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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 2 FEBRUARY 2014 THIS WEEK 34 AMERICA is the place you want to go to fulfil your dreams or get a fresh start in life. That, at least, has been how the continent was per- ceived in the popular imagination for the longest time. Partly owing to the fact that it's both relatively new and prosper- ous, this myth took root and has sprouted generously ever since. There may be a smidgeon of truth to it, of course: its power structures just don't have the weight of history behind them. To wit, there aren't as many aristocratic (or indeed bureau- cratic) boundaries there as there are in Europe, so that with hard work, determination and a healthy sprin- kling of luck here and there, theo- retically anyone would be allowed to flourish in the New World (or so the story goes). But this lack of checks and bal- ances also means that charismatic swindlers can worm their way to the system with relative ease. When money – as opposed to status and family connections – are the prima- ry conduit to power, what is appar- ently democratising can also rapidly spiral into a reptilian free-for-all. This was more or less proven as unassailable fact after the global financial recession hit, and Holly- wood was surprisingly quick to re- spond to this apparent malaise. Per- haps this is because the narratives had been embedded in our culture for quite some time. Nevermind Ol- iver Stone's Wall Street (1987), the collapse of ambitious, powerful men – their fuel being money or what- ever else – has been familiar to us for a while thanks to the likes of the Ancient Greek playwrights, down to Shakespeare and countless others. Martin Scorcese did it with much brio just this season, as The Wolf of Wall Street eviscerates the self- made stockbroker myth with brutal panache. But though it's not directly con- nected with the financial infrastruc- ture, David O. Russell's American Hustle is – as the title would suggest – also an acerbic exploration of the wheeling-and-dealing that appears to be second nature to American culture. It's 1978, and a schlubby but char- ismatic con-man, Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) is swindling inves- tors with fake scams, with substan- tial help from this British girlfriend Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams). When an ambitious and antsy FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper) gets wise about their scheming, he blackmails them into collaborating with him on a high-profile sting. The (loosely) based on real life ABSCAM ('Arab scam') involves worming into a gangster's money laundering operation, and DiMaso doesn't appear to know that he's in over his head. Particularly when he begins falling in love with Sydney. Though she appears glad to recipro- cate, in this game of cross and dou- ble cross nothing is what it seems. Previously a persona non grata in Hollywood – you can find his on-set scuffles with actress Lily Tomlin, during the filming of 2004 flop I Heart Huckabees, on YouTube – Russell rehabilitated his reputation with Oscar courting dramas The Fighter (2010) and Silver Linings Playbook (2012); both of which took fairly safe, heart-warming ideas of adversity bested and gave them a reverse-spit-polish of grit and dark- ness. Which worked fine. But that's pre- cisely the problem. Russell appears to know his ingredients quite well – and that includes a good grasp on his regular actors – but when it comes down to it, he's not all that great a chef. American Hustle in particular is far less than the sum of its parts. Unlike Scorcese, who powers through his narratives with confi- dence and a blistering single-mind- edness, Russell appears content to just let his individual set pieces stew, before bringing everything to an abrupt halt with a contrived twist (in a sea of other twists). I don't make the comparison to Scorcese lightly. Apart from the fi- nancial scheming bearing the same DNA as the germ of The Wolf of Wall Street, the film follows the Goodfellas model almost to the letter: voiceover narration, rapid- fire dialogue between unapologeti- cally amoral characters, evocative, pumping soundtrack… even Robert de Niro pops in for a cameo. Russell's film suffers because of the inevitable comparison, and it doesn't offer all that much in re- turn. Worse still, the grimy evoca- tion of the late '70s draws compari- son to another contemporary great: Paul Thomas Anderson (Magnolia, There Will Be Blood) – specifi- cally, his porn-world expose Boogie Nights, which also deals with nerv- ous wannabes willing to risk far too much to make something of them- selves. There's no arguing that Ameri- can Hustle depicts a vivid world and packs in some great moments – including a firecracker turn from audience and Academy favourite Jennifer Lawrence – but a film that's ultimately as threadbare as this doesn't deserve an Oscar nomina- tion… let alone 10. FILM IN CINEMAS TODAY By Teodor Reljic St James Cavalier Valletta Tel. 21 223200 Met Opera – The Nose (U) 15:00 The Act of Killing (18) 18:00 Saving Mr Banks (U) 20:45 Embassy Cinemas Valletta Tel. 21 227436, 21 245818 Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (12) 10:25, 13:40, 16:05, 18:30, 20:55 The Last Vegas (12) 10:20, 13:45, 16:10, 18:35, 21:00 Mandela – Long Walk to Freedom (12) 17:45, 20:50 Frozen (U) 10:15 The Wolf of Wall Street (18) 13:40, 17:15, 20:50 The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug (12) 10:30, 14:00, 17:20, 20:45 The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (PG) 10:15, 13:55, 16:20, 18:45, 21:10 Eden Cinemas St Julian's Tel. 23 710400 Last Vegas (12) 14:05, 16:20, 18:35, 20:45 The Railway Man (15) 14:00, 16:25, 18:50, 21:15, 23:40 Thanks for Sharing (15) 14:00, 16:20, 18:40, 21:05, 23:25 Delivery Man (12) 14:10, 16:25, 18:45, 21:10, 23:25 Homefront (15) 14:05, 16:15, 18:30, 21:00, 23:10 The Wolf of Wall Street (18) 14:05, 17:40, 21:15, 23:00 Mandela – Long Walk to Freedom (12) 14:30, 18:00, 20:50, 23:45 Captain Phillips (12) 14:25, 18:05, 20:50, 23:30 The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (12) 14:20, 17:55, 20:45, 23:40 Lost Illusions – Bolshoi – Live (PG) 16:00 Grudge Match (12) 18:50, 21:10, 23:35 The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (12) 14:30, 18:00, 21:10 Philomena (12) 14:10 16:20 18:30 21:05 23:10 Frozen (U) 14:00, 16:20, 18:40, 20:55, 23:10 Don Jon (18) 14:15, 16:15, 18:35, 21:00, 23:05 Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (12) 14:05, 16:25, 18:45, 21:15, 23:35 American Hustle (15) 14:30, 18:05, 20:55, 23:40 Empire Cinemas Bugibba Tel. 21 581787, 21 581909 The Railway Man (15) 16:05, 21:00 Grudge Match (12) 10:50, 13:40, 18:30 Delivery Man (12) 10:45, 13:30, 16:00, 18:15, 20:55 Last Vegas (12) 10:40, 13:35, 15:50, 18:05, 20:50 The Wolf of Wall Street (18) 10:30, 14:00, 17:40, 21:15 American Hustle (15) 10:35, 14:05, 17:45, 20:45 The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (12) 18:00, 21:15 Despicable Me 2 (U) 10:45, 13:35, 15:45 Frozen (U) 10:35, 13:30, 16:00, 18:20, 20:50 AMERICA is the place you want to go to fulfil your dreams or get a fresh start in life. That, at least, has Russell rehabilitated his reputation with Oscar courting dramas The Fighter (2010) and Silver Linings can Hustle depicts a vivid world and packs in some great moments – including a firecracker turn from The Stateside swindle writ derivative All is not as it seems: Amy Adams and Christian Bale play a fraudster couple in David O. Russell's Oscar-favourite crime-comedy + ++++ AMERICAN DREAM ++++ AMERICAN WOMAN +++AMERICAN PIE ++AMERICAN IDIOT +AMERICAN HORROR STORY AMERICAN HUSTLE (15) +++ This week's picks DRAMA RAILWAY MAN A victim from World War II's 'Death Railway' sets out to find those responsible for his torture. Based on a true story. Starring: Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth. COMEDY DON JON Jon Martello (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a strong, handsome, good old- fashioned guy. His buddies call him Don Jon due to his ability to "pull" a different woman every weekend, but even the finest fling doesn't compare to the bliss he finds alone in front of the computer watching pornography. ACTION JACK RYAN: SHADOW RECRUIT The story follows Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan from 9/11, through his tour of duty in Afghanistan, which scarred him forever, and into his early days in the Financial Intelligence Unit of the modern CIA where he becomes an analyst, under the guardianship of his handler, Harper. When Ryan believes he's uncovered a Russian plot to collapse the United States economy, he goes from being an analyst to becoming a spy and must fight to save his own life and those of countless others.