History Film / AmericanHustle

* BreakTheHaughty: The scene revealing [[spoiler:TheConWithinACon does this to Richie. As the conmen calmly explain how they played him, he starts off angry and gets more subdued as he realises how thoroughly screwed he is. When Irving (who had always argued they should be keeping the con small) criticises him for only going for the soft targets instead of the real money men, his response is an almost ''whimpered'' "That's who I wanted to go for!"]]

* TheCon: The whole plot of the film is an examination of this trope.
* TheConWithinACon: Irving and Sydney's exit strategy. They know Richie's grand plan to nab not only the corrupt politicians, but also high-ranking mafia man Victor Tellegio, will ultimately lead to their deaths as they are the only viable targets the mafia can punish. So they [[spoiler:con Richie into thinking he wired cash to Tellegio when he really wired it to them so that they can use it to buy their immunity from prosecution and safety from the mafia.]]

* GoodAdulteryBadAdultery: Irving and Sydney are having an affair, despite Irving being married to Rosalyn. This is shown to be okay because Rosalyn refuses to get a divorce and it's implied she will use Danny to manipulate Irving into doing what she wants. This conflict is why Sydney considers being with Richie - whose cheating on his fiance barely gets a mention. All of it flows perfectly with the below trope.

* YourCheatingHeart: All over the place.

The film earned 10 [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAward Oscar]] nominations but went home empty-handed, becoming the third nominated film with no wins and tied with ''Film/GangsOfNewYork'' and ''Film/TrueGrit'' for second place among the biggest losers in Academy history. It is also the [[RuleOfThree third]] Oscar-nominated film where all of four acting categories didn't win any since ''My Man Godfrey'' in 1936 and ''Sunset Boulevard'' in 1950. (It did score big at the box office, however, taking in just over $150 million domestically and a further $101 million elsewhere.)

%%* TheEndingChangesEverything: [[spoiler:Any investment one had in ]]

* TheThreeFacesOfEve: The three prominent females fall into these roles more or less. Rosalyn is the child - very naive and immature. Dolly is the wife - the only well-adjusted woman in the film and HappilyMarried to Carmine. Sydney is the seductress - she's dressed seductively and employs a HoneyTrap to con people. This is emphasised in the one scene where all three appear together - Rosalyn wears [[WomanInWhite white]], Dolly wears [[TrueBlueFemininity blue]] and Sydney wears a [[EverythingsBetterWithSparkles sparkly dress]] with AbsoluteCleavage.

* WomanInWhite: Sydney during the pool party scene where she and Irving first meet.

* SweepWeeksLesbianKiss: Rosalyn's spiteful kiss on Sydney in the girl's bathrooms. Neither of them questions their sexuality after that.

* MoralityPet: Carmine is this to Irving.

* BrainlessBeauty: Rosalyn, whose DumbBlonde moments are so outrageous, they almost appear to be intentional. Noteworthy examples of Rosalyn's bulletproof logic include:
** Thoughtlessly running her mouth to Jack Huston (Victor Tellagio's [[TheDragon number two man]]) about Irving talking on the phone to Carmine and Ritchie
--> '''Rosalyn:''' ...he thinks I'm stupid, [[{{Irony}}but I'm not stupid]]. I hear him on the phone arguing...he loves Carmine, but he hates that other guy, that curly-headed IRS guy or whatever...I think he's got Irv in some kind of bind...

--> '''Danny Rosenfeld:''' (to Irving) ''Did you know they made a lamp that has the sun in it? Mommy got the lamp, she made her [[TheAlcoholic special drink]], and the lamp made a fire.''
--> '''Rosalyn:''' (exasperated) ''I '''''put out''''' the fire...''

--> '''Rosalyn:''' Bring something into our house that's going to take all the nutrition out of our food and then [[BeCarefulWhatYouSay light our house on fire]]? [[LethallyStupid Thank God for me]].

--> '''Rosalyn:''' Bring something into our house that's going to take all the nutrition out of our food and then [[BeCarefulWhatYouSay light our house on fire]]? [[OvenLogic Thank God for me]].

* BrainlessBeauty: Rosalyn, whose DumbBlonde moments are so outrageous, they almost appear to be intentional. Examples of note include:
** Rosalyn thoughtlessly running her mouth to Jack Huston (Victor Tellagio's [[TheDragon number two man]]) about Irving talking on the phone to Carmine and Ritchie

** Rosalyn starting a fire with the sunlamp while she was drinking, endangering her child in the process

** Rosalyn [[TemptingFate putting metal]] in the "fuckin' science oven," after Irv specifically [[FailsafeFailure tells her not to]], resulting in another fire
--> '''Rosalyn:''' Bring something into our house that's going to take all the nutrition out of our food and then light our house on fire? [[OvenLogic Thank God for me]].

* BrainlessBeauty: Rosalyn, who almost takes pride in some of her DumbBlonde moments. Examples of note include:

--> '''Rosalyn:''' ...he thinks I'm stupid, but I'm not stupid. I hear him on the phone arguing...he loves Carmine, but he hates that other guy, that curly-headed IRS guy or whatever...I think he's got Irv in some kind of bind...

** Irving telling her specifically to '''''not''''' put metal in the "fuckin' science oven," resulting in another fire

* TheSeventies: So very much.
** SeventiesHair: And how!
** {{Disco}}: [=DiMaso=] dresses the part when he takes Sydney out dancing. Also, the use of [[Music/DonnaSummer "I Feel]] [[Music/GiorgioMoroder Love"]] during the club scene.
** PornStache: At least a few guys sport these.

* EveryoneHasStandards: Sydney may be a conwoman but she is disgusted by how Rosalyn likes to use her son to manipulate Irving.

** TheUnreveal: Richie never does hear what the point of the story is.

* TakeThatKiss: During confrontation in a bathroom, Rosalyn blasts Sydney with a [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech Reason You Suck Speech]] and then kisses her on the mouth.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Irving and Sydney get immunity for all of their crimes, go straight, move in together, and share custody of Rosalyn's son with Rosalyn. Rosalyn herself gets together with one of Victor's enforcers, and it's a visibly healthier relationship than the one she had with Irving. Unfortunately, Carmine still went to jail for his chimerical action, seven if they were for the good of the people, and Irving is forever haunted by the loss of their friendship.]]

* INeedToGoIronMyDog: Irving uses the "I need to go see a man about a dog" variant to get out of a meeting.

The film earned 10 [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAward Oscar]] nominations but went home empty-handed, becoming the third nominated film with no wins and tied with ''Film/GangsOfNewYork'' and ''TrueGrit'' for second place among the biggest losers in Academy history. It is also the [[RuleOfThree third]] Oscar-nominated film where all of four acting categories didn't win any since ''My Man Godfrey'' in 1936 and ''Sunset Boulevard'' in 1950. (It did score big at the box office, however, taking in just over $150 million domestically and a further $101 million elsewhere.)

The plot revolves around Irving Rosenfeld (Bale), a brilliant small-time con-artist who, with his lover Sydney Prosser (Adams) posing as a well-connected British aristocrat, runs a successful fraudulent loans operation out of a chain of dry-cleaners. The good times are brought to a rapid halt, however, when they're busted by ambitious FBI agent Rich [=DiMaso=] (Cooper), who uses the threat of jail time to force them into working for him as part of a sting operation to expose local corruption in New Jersey, beginning with Carmine Polito (Renner), the idealistic mayor of Camden. [=DiMaso=] soon sets his sights on higher targets, however, and there's also Rosenfeld's highly unstable wife Rosalyn (Lawrence), whose suspicions about her husband's extra-marital activities put everyone at risk.

* ShoutOut: Plenty of references to MartinScorsese's unique style and cinema, mainly to ''Goodfellas'' and ''Casino'', to the point that reviewers debate if it's an {{homage}} or a [[http://www.vulture.com/2013/12/american-hustle-and-the-art-of-the-homage.html rip-off]].

** Jennifer Lawrence's fake New Jersey accent is done fairly well, but suffers slippage during certain words and vocal sounds.

** Averted by the British Christian Bale, whose Long Island dialect remains steadfast throughout... even in the face of Amy Adams affecting an English accent in many of their scenes together.

** Who knew the Italian gangster could speak Arabic? [[spoiler:Fortunately, the Mexican FBI agent playing the part of the Arab money man could too but no one knew that beforehand.]]