Movie Reaction: Amsterdam

Formula: The Nice Guys ^ The Great Gatsby

I guess I don't like David O. Russell. Or I don't get him. It's hard for me to say, because, more than anything, I don't remember his movies. I heard people rave about Three Kings. I didn't get the appeal. Can't remember a thing about it now. I know people adore I Heart Huckabees. I saw it and thought I missed something. Hearing people talk about it now, it sounds like a great movie. No memory of it. I know I saw The Fighter, but other than something about Christian Bale jumping out of a window, I retain nothing. My only lingering memories about Silver Linings Playbook are leaving the theater wondering how old that movie thought Jennifer Lawrence was and assuming the movie was a bomb when it opened so poorly. American Hustle I at least recall the performances: Bale's hair mechanics, Lawrence going to 11, and Amy Adams being Oscar-caliber. Joy...well, we all agree that was a misstep. So yeah. Even I would think that I'm a David O. Russell hater, but it's really more about him making little impact on me. I can't watch one of his movies and tell you the David O. Russell things he brought to it. I bring that up specifically, because when I talk about Amsterdam in a moment, I may be commenting on Russell trademarks without even realizing it.

 

I was rooting for Amsterdam. I really was. A buddy mystery starring a somewhat bumbling Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, and John David Washington is something I should really enjoy. Beyond them there's Andrea Riseborough, Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Rock, Michael Shannon, Mike Myers, Taylor Swift, Timothy Olyphant, Zoe Saldana, Rami Malek, and Robert De Niro. That collection of talent is incredible. I love the 1930s period setting. It's a consciously sloppy movie about three friends accidentally thrown into the middle of historical events. There's nothing in this paragraph that would suggest anything but a good time.

 

I didn't care for Amsterdam though. The best way I can describe why is that it felt like I was watching a lot of very talented people making a movie very sloppily. Throughout the entire movie, it felt like actors were reading lines they'd just been given and only shot the scenes once. It's a lot of bad and/or awkward line readings from people who I know are better than that. It didn't feel like a lot of people were in the same movie either. Christian Bale adds every conceivable quirk to his performance while John David Washington stepped off the set of Tenet much of the time. Robbie a tragic manic pixie dream girl for most of the movie. Chris Rock is Chris Rock in the 1930s. Robert De Niro: let's just say his performance kept reminding me of his 30 Rock episode, which wasn't a high point for him. In fact, a lot of this movie reminded me of 30 Rock bits, and not in the good way. Whenever Bale, Washington, and Robbie were on screen together, I kept thinking of the "Best Friends Gang" with Kelsey Grammer.

 

If there was ever a David O. Russell movie that could've been my David O. Russell movie, Amsterdam should've been it. Unfortunately, the shagginess felt less like flavor and more like sloppiness. A huge and game cast didn't come together right. This is based lightly on a true story. The film opens by saying something like "Some of this really happened" and I wish they hadn't included it. Something can be inspired by actual events but go in whatever the direction needs. Law & Order does it every week. Even indirectly tying it to actual events tethers the story to a reality that may do the film no favors. In this case, I think that's very true. But, when it all comes down to it, my issue with the movie is pretty simple: it just didn't do it for me. I could see a 5% shifted version of this that I could've loved. The calibration just wasn't set to my taste, I guess.

 

Verdict: Weakly Don't Recommend