American Hustle
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: December 13, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
90
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 47 Critic Reviews
Positive:
46
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
SalonAndrew O'HehirDec 21, 2013
A work of tremendous confidence and dazzling showmanship that may just be a delirious movie-as-drug-high or may, if you choose to read it this way, contain a level of commentary about the nature of America and the illusioneering of Hollywood. Read full review
100
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinDec 21, 2013
The movie is a slot machine that never stops spitting quarters. Read full review
100
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierDec 21, 2013
There’s a great fever-dream quality to David O. Russell’s American Hustle that instantly reels you in. Read full review
100
Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaDec 20, 2013
Big hair. Big mouths. Big scams. Everything about American Hustle, David O. Russell's wild and woolly take on the late-'70s FBI sting operation code-named Abscam, is big. And the biggest thing of all is the love story that beats at the heart of this rollicking disco-era ensemble piece. Read full review
100
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe WilliamsDec 19, 2013
As much as anything, the wildly entertaining ’70s flashback American Hustle is a triumph of style. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleDec 18, 2013
American Hustle is David O. Russell's best film, one that finds him in that ideal zone of spontaneity and complete control. Read full review
100
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsDec 18, 2013
The whole movie, a feast of ensemble wiles and stunning hair, is juicy, funny and alive. Read full review
100
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallDec 18, 2013
Russell and co-writer Eric Warren Singer lay out these deceits and double-crosses with precision but American Hustle isn't merely a procedural. Defining these outsized personalities, tracing their unconventional connections and affections, is where Russell's movie finds its irreverent heartbeat. Read full review
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperDec 13, 2013
American Hustle is the best time I’ve had at the movies all year, a movie so perfectly executed, such wall-to-wall fun, so filled with the joy of expert filmmaking on every level I can’t imagine anyone who loves movies not loving THIS movie. Read full review
100
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireDec 13, 2013
David O. Russell out-Scorseses Martin Scorsese with American Hustle, a '70s crime romp that's ridiculously entertaining in all the best ways. Read full review
100
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternDec 12, 2013
High-energy comedy comes naturally to the filmmaker. He exults in free association, emotional riffs, in the craziness that underlies ostensibly rational behavior. The crosscurrents have crosscurrents in his films, but the current that carries everything along here is announced by the first strains of music from the screen: Duke Ellington's "Jeep's Blues," with one of the most exuberant passages in all of jazz. David O. Russell does buoyancy better than anyone. Read full review
100
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranDec 12, 2013
[Russell's] dizzying, outlandishly entertaining American Hustle is a 21-first century screwball farce about 20th-century con men, scam artists and those who dream of living large, a film that is big hearted and off the wall in equal measure. Read full review
100
The New York TimesManohla DargisDec 12, 2013
Mr. Bale, like some other stars who embrace playing ugly, feels as if he’d been liberated by all the pounds he’s packed on and by his character’s molting looks, an emancipation that’s most evident in his delicately intimate, moving moments with Ms. Adams and Ms. Lawrence. Read full review
100
Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanDec 11, 2013
It's a film of jaw-dropping virtuosity and pleasure, one that leaves you revved, enthralled, tickled, moved, and amazed. Read full review
100
Time OutJoshua RothkopfDec 10, 2013
A dynamite crime comedy and identity meltdown that can rekindle one’s faith in movies. Read full review
100
TimeRichard CorlissDec 10, 2013
Reveling in its ’70s milieu and in the eternal abrasion of sexy women and covetous men, American Hustle is an urban eruption of flat-out fun — the sharpest, most exhilarating comedy in years. Anyone who says otherwise must be conning you. Read full review
100
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyDec 4, 2013
An infectious blast of funky jazz played by a terrific cast and a director at the top of their respective games. Read full review
91
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Dec 11, 2013
American Hustle turns out to be a freewheeling party of a movie, one that never stops adding complications and wrinkles and hungry new players to the mix. Read full review
90
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzDec 17, 2013
Boasting terrific acting, a brilliant soundtrack, outrageous outfits and hair, and a kinda-sorta based-on-fact story of ambition and greed, it’s relentless, in the best possible way. Read full review
90
Village VoiceStephanie ZacharekDec 10, 2013
There may not be much behind the sparkling tinsel curtain of David O. Russell's extraordinarily entertaining American Hustle. But what a curtain! Read full review
90
The New YorkerDavid DenbyDec 9, 2013
“Inside Llewyn Davis” and “Nebraska” are the current standards of what a serious Hollywood movie looks like. American Hustle offers so many easy pleasures that people may not think of it as a work of art, but it is. In the world that Russell has created, if you don’t come to play you’re not fully alive. An art devoted to appetite has as much right to screen immortality as the most austere formal invention. Read full review
90
VarietyJustin ChangDec 4, 2013
It’s a rich, glorious mess, and its underlying craftsmanship is apparent in the characters’ beautifully delineated relationships, each with its own jangly rhythm and distinct feel. Read full review
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyDec 20, 2013
The character of Rosalyn – a mash-up of Carole Lombard, Lady Macbeth and maybe even Regan from The Exorcist – is by far the most hair-raising phenomenon in a movie bristling with high hair. Read full review
88
Washington PostAnn HornadayDec 19, 2013
The warmth that courses through American Hustle makes it irresistible, with Russell’s affection for his characters and his sharp-eyed evocation of their recessionary times, honoring their struggle, however dishonest, rather than denigrating it. Read full review
88
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezDec 19, 2013
Like his con artists are prone to saying, American Hustle works from the feet up, and the fun is intoxicating. Read full review
88
ObserverRex ReedDec 16, 2013
American Hustle is an essay on the brilliance of corruption. Read full review
88
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreDec 13, 2013
The disco decadence, the seedy era before Times Square became a theme park, the lowered expectations of an endless recession, everything that was then and is now makes up American Hustle. And that’s what makes this the best movie of this holiday season. Read full review
88
USA TodayClaudia PuigDec 12, 2013
With one of the best ensemble casts of any film this year, it's audacious, enthralling and uproarious. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter TraversDec 12, 2013
For some, the silver linings in Russell’s movies represent a failure to embrace darkness. I see them as a humanist’s act of resistance. That’s why American Hustle ranks with the year’s best movies. It gets under your skin. Read full review
83
The PlaylistTodd GilchristDec 4, 2013
Although movies like “Goodfellas” are indisputable forebears for Russell’s decadent tale of crime and punishment, the filmmaker distinguishes himself by creating a complex and compelling web of manipulation between the characters that eventually supersedes any of their scheming or con artistry. Read full review
83
IndieWireEric KohnDec 4, 2013
Story comes second to Russell over the rhythms of well-timed bickering, which is a blessing and a curse in American Hustle. Read full review
80
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottDec 24, 2013
Like everyone else in Russell's cast, Lawrence appears to be having a blast in the role. It's downright contagious. Read full review
80
Time Out LondonGuy LodgeDec 17, 2013
Ultimately story is secondary to Russell’s delicious detailing of character and milieu. Read full review
80
EmpireKim NewmanDec 16, 2013
An extremely entertaining, brilliantly acted, highly diverting film which — like all hustles — delivers less than it promises. Still, it’s worth being taken for the ride. Read full review
80
Total FilmMatt MaytumDec 8, 2013
With the entire cast on their A-game, depths are found in characters that could’ve easily been caricatures. Read full review
80
The TelegraphRobbie CollinDec 5, 2013
What gives the film its lip-smacking, chilli-pepper kick is that we are never entirely certain who is conning whom, or even if what we are watching has any truth to it at all. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawDec 5, 2013
It is an intriguing confection of a movie, announcing its influences candidly, but exerting its originality too. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleSteve DavisDec 18, 2013
It’s a juicy role for any actress, but Lawrence takes it two or three steps further than anyone else who comes to mind could. She’s a true original, a rara avis with beautiful plumage. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianMarc MohanDec 20, 2013
There’s plenty of fun to be had, but in the long term, American Hustle may be remembered more for its superficial pleasures than the depth of its impact. Kind of like the 1970s. Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanDec 19, 2013
This isn’t a history lesson. It’s pure entertainment, an excuse for good actors to romp through a twisting, well-told tale. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrDec 19, 2013
It’s a juggling act that Russell can’t sustain and doesn’t: The last 20 minutes feel aimless, and the movie doesn’t end so much as coast to a halt. And still you walk away giddy and full. American Hustle takes your money and makes you glad you were fleeced. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliDec 18, 2013
American Hustle runs a little long with the strongest scenes occurring toward the end. Although the actors don't put on a clinic, they all provide worthwhile performances playing interesting characters, and there's a nice cameo thrown into the mix. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerDec 13, 2013
The film suffers from late-stage Scorsese-itis – wacky, low-slung, high-octane melodrama with lots of yelling and overacting. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineJesse CataldoDec 4, 2013
Formally ostentatious and unrepentantly messy, the film manages to implicitly convey the overdriven, coked-up confusion that many '70s period pieces make painfully overt. Read full review
72
Film.comKate ErblandDec 8, 2013
While American Hustle succeeds when it comes to casting and characters, it’s dragged down by a murky and poorly-paced narrative. Read full review
70
The DissolveKeith PhippsDec 9, 2013
It’s both unfailingly exciting and overly familiar, a restless but risk-averse film that’s a little too content to borrow from what’s worked before. Read full review
50
New York PostKyle SmithDec 10, 2013
American Hustle is a movie that was built backward, or inside out: It puts actors’ needs before the audience’s. There’s no heart under those polyester lapels, and what all that Aqua Net is pasting together is a few sparse strands of wispy story. Read full review
More From This Movie

90 Critic Reviews

7.3 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 86 Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
2 84 Are You There God? It's Me,...
3 78 John Wick: Chapter 4
4 75 Polite Society
5 73 Air
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL