David O. Russell’s shambolic Amsterdam cranks up the star power but still falls short
Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, and John David Washington, among others, do their best to make sense out of an overly ambitious political potboiler
Film Reviews David O. Russell
Amsterdam, David O. Russell’s 1930s-set caper film, zooms along unexpected narrative curves with a tremendous self-confidence it mistakes for grace. In actuality, it’s more of a shamble, like a sloppy guy at a bar telling a farfetched tale signifying not-too-much, but it certainly seems important, to the teller anyway. This does not mean the movie is not worth watching—indeed, much of it is rather funny—but like a return from the pub when a loved one asks if they missed anything, you can say, “Oh, it’s always fun to see the gang, but you didn’t miss much.”
The leader of this film’s gang is Christian Bale, working for the third time with Russell after American Hustle (a better film) and The Fighter (a better film still). Here he plays Burt Berendsen, a kind, doofus Doctor Feelgood who serves up painkillers to fellow World War I veterans. He wears a glass eye, has scars on his face, and (probably due to the frequent ingestion of his own wares) is seen making loopy faces, which Russell and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki are eager to shoot in close-up with long lenses, ramping up the cartoon nature of all of it.
His best buddy is a lawyer, Harold Woodsman, played by John David Washington. When Burt was the only soldier during WWI who would take the post leading an all-black division, the two of them forged an unbreakable bond. (Burt’s wife, a very amusing blue-blood Andrea Riseborough, and her father, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s Casey Biggs, sent him there, kinda-sorta hoping he’d get killed.)
Both men were wounded in the trenches, and as they convalesced in a French hospital they met an American nurse, Valerie, played by Margot Robbie brimming with joie de vivre and an unusual artist’s eye that teaches our boys how to truly embrace life. (She’s also incredibly connected to international spies—Mike Meyers and Michael Shannon, particularly—which no one questions.) The three quit for Amsterdam; Burt becomes a beloved third wheel to Harold and Valerie, whose love could never exist outside the bubble of bohemian interwar Western Europe. “Amsterdam” is a fondly remembered state of mind.
The scenes in the Dutch capital are all warmly lit interiors, with big windows and art. Alas, if the movie’s title had you hoping for shots of Margot Robbie strolling along canals or alongside windmills, you’ll have to take your Hollandophilic ass elsewhere. Besides, we only catch these moments in flashback, before things go sour into the 1930s, with poverty overwhelming America and a new threat looming in Europe.
Things heat up again when Harold and Burt are visited by a young woman (Taylor Swift!) who is convinced that her father—an important Army man who acted respectfully to the Black troops during the war—did not die by natural causes. Just when we begin to believe her, she too is killed, in a rather surprising manner. The death is pinned on Harold and Burt, prompting them to go scrounging for alibis from society folk who will vouch for them.
Things get messier as the two visit a grand suburban estate and encounter other weirdos like Rami Malek and Anya Taylor-Joy who seem to be involved in a side competition to see who can make wackier googly eyes in the camera. (Malek wins!) Valerie reappears, and as they try to clear their names (and unmask the killers), they discover a conspiracy based on a little bit of historical truth. (Familiarity with the old Humphrey Bogart film All Through The Night will foreshadow the ending a bit.)
Amsterdam is not a great movie by any shakes, although it looks terrific and all of the performances, including turns from Robert De Niro, Chris Rock, Matthias Schoenaerts, Alessandro Nivola, Ed Begley Jr., and Timothy Olyphant, are energetic, entertaining, and enjoyable. (Zoe Saldaña did not get the memo about this movie’s tone; she’s a snooze.)
The problem is that its grand conspiracy theory and unsubtle theme of history repeating itself is trying a bit too hard to be weighty. Yes, this is an important topic (one not need subscribe to too many substacks to know why fear of creeping Fascism is a genuine thing) but the tonal shift from exaggerated camera angles to political dread is a tough one to pull off. Not everyone can be Joel and Ethan Coen, certainly not David O. Russell, whose work continues to operate in their shadow. In Amsterdam, Amsterdam is fondly remembered as an ephemeral heaven on Earth. As the movie calendar marches on Amsterdam is not likely to be remembered by many at all.
87 Comments
She’s also incredibly connected to international spies—Mike Meyers and Michael Shannon, particularly—which no one questions.That was incredibly common during the World Wars, many women were drafted into the intelligence services because they would be constantly underestimated by men, and not just in the trite “honey trap” way, women were used extensively across Europe by the allied forces to gather intelligence behind the lines.https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/The-Female-Spies-Of-SOE/
Re: women working in intelligence gathering during the wars, I just finished a good work of fiction if one is into spy stuff grounded in “real” intelligence: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/61277.The_Company_of_Strangers
She stood right there in the midnight air as the moon shone through her nightie. It bit right on the nipple, oh the tit. Oh, Jesus Christ Almighty.
But they did have trite “honey traps”, didn’t they? Right?
They did, but suggesting that was all they did is a disservice to the work.
Yes but who’s this Mike Meyers chap?
I’ll tell you …. for one million dollars.
He’s a spy- get it? You’re not supposed to know!
OI GAVALT, BABY, OI!
For example, take this brief excerpt from a documentary on the matter:
Fuck David O Russell. Everyone involved in this film should be ashamed for collaborating with this garbage.
ah the frustrated and jealous artist is bitter again.
Nah David O Russell seems like he’s kinda a gigantic dickhead, and also assaulted his transgender niece
His 17 year old transgendered niece was being precocious about their breats augmentation, and O. Russell grabbed their breasts on invitation. It… was not the aggressive rape you’ve made it sound here.
Nah
TBF, he kinda assaults everybody
That’s depressing. I was looking forward to this but I’m not so sure I want to see it now…
Wait he did what to his niece?
As I recall he asked her to “pinkie promise” not to tell anyone after he groped her breasts.
Weird this site will lock on to any controversy and yet O’Russel gets off after screaming like a child on set constantly at veteran professional actors, having to be physically threatened by Bale when he verbally assaulted Amy Adams and continues to be a huge shit head in the industry.
I mean…its not just one incident. He had physical or verbal altercations with George Clooney, Lily Tomlin, and Amy Adams, etc. And the Amy Adams altercations was so bad that Christian Bale (also known for his own screaming at crew) thought O’Russell was out of line and intervened.
George Clooney should’ve smashed him with his chin.
Or his coffee-maker.
When George Clooney has to punch you that should really tell you something.
Right?
He’s a prick, but the way he comes back through the door as if on cue to continue the argument he’s having with Lily Tomlin in this clip always cracks me up. I think it’s my favorite DOR film..
Yeah it is kinda of funny. But what’s disturbing about the clip is how everyone walks off. Because in my opinion if that was really out of character for O’Russell people would try to calm him down.
I had a boss who once flipped out on us in similar manner but in five years he never done that, we truly thought he was having a mental break down. Turns out it was associated with a medical condition he had that he didn’t know he had. Point is, our initial reaction was concern not “well he’s at it again we might as well leave the room.”
Ah yes, calling out a director for his numerous assaults and horrible behavior is jealousy. You clocked me. Well met sir, the battle of wits is over!
🤑
Amy Adams has spoken openly about how verbally aggressive he was with her while making American hustle. At one point with it getting so intense that Bale had to step in. Fuck David O Russell.
Sooooooooo brave
The guy has some talent for moviemaking. It’s too bad he can’t just focus on the funny stuff and be a little more subtle with the messaging. Kind of like, you know…. the Coen brothers. As it is, I suppose at this point he’ll mostly just be remembered as a giant shitbag. I still say the microwave was the best actor in American Hustle
!!
I’m still surprised he’s being able to make films after how much of an asshole he’s known to be. And that’s really putting it lightly.
Anyone who behaves like THIS on a set, towards actors, has no business in the entertainment industry:
And the really fucked up thing about all that was SHE took the hit.
The reviewer should make sure to keep his “WWI” consistent. After the third graph, I thought briefly they believed WWII occurred prior to the 1930s.
“Familiarity with the old Humphrey Bogart film…”As opposed to the new Humphrey Bogart film?
Hey, if Bruce Willis can do it…
I was not expecting Anya Taylor-Joy to lose a competition centering on her eyes being filmed.
She ran up against the only real competition. I call for a rematch.
Amanda Seyfried has a beer she needs you to hold for a second.
Makes me miss Marty Feldman.
DAMN YOUR EYES!Too late.
I enjoyed American Hustle enough that I’m sure I’ll check this out. The Fighter was great but not really much of a comp for this type of film.Irrelevant aside: I swear I didn’t know until the credits of American Hustle that Renner’s wife was Elisabeth Rohm, and I’m a L&O junkie.
David O. Russell’s 1930s-set caper film……Burt was the only soldier during WWII who…Good editing, AV Club.
See now, how can you write stuff like this but when I do it I get shadowbanned. I feel so uncool! *runs away crying*
Maybe he lives backwards in time, like Merlin.
I’m guessing this is a sly “Tenet” spinoff, since we have JDW in it.
a tremendous self-confidence it mistakes for grace
This is as good a summary of David O. Russell’s films as I’ve seen.
Where the hell was John David Washington hiding all the way until about 35 years old? I had never heard of him or that Denzel had any kids.
He didn’t act at all until he was 30.
and it shows.
Other than a few small roles as a child in his fathers films and TV, his first big on screen presence was BlacKKKlansman in 2018.
He’s only done a few films, and yet overall, I still prefer watching him onscreen than his dad. Denzel has always come off like a smug prick to me. Josh Brolin has a great story about how he almost got into a fistfight with him on the set of American Gangster..
I know what you mean by “smug prick”, though for whatever reason, it doesn’t bother me. I haven’t heard that story from Brolin, but it sounds great lol. I’m going to look it up.
I think it’s on this episode of WTF -http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/tag/Josh+Brolin
That’s about the age Harrison Ford was when he filmed Star Wars. Some actors reached their prime relatively late.
Harrison spent his entire twenties smoking pot as a full-time job. What’s JDW’s excuse?
His dad is rich?.
He was in the HBO show Ballers for five seasons starting in 2015. I did not, initially, know that he was Denzel’s son.
He was a professional football player (Rams practice squad, then UFL) until late 2012, and was cast in the pilot of Ballers in late 2013.
He had a pro football career before going into acting.
They still let David O. Russell make movies? I mean I guess just being a physically and emotionally abusive piece of shit isn’t as bad as what Victor Salva did and Hollywood continued to let him direct movies.
what system do you propose setting up to prevent people from working if they have financing?
Hollywood blackballs people all the time. Ask Harvey Weinstein victims Mira Sorvino and Ashley Judd.
(Taylor Swift!) is killed, in a rather surprising manner: bludgeoned by a rhinestone-studded guitar?
She snorted marijuana and died instantly
That’s a shame. I bet she could’ve written an entire album’s worth of songs whining about coming down from the high.
I’m not sure she has the ability to write about anything other than some celebrity she used to bang and now wants to drag through the mud..
Wielded by Scooter Braun. Is there no part of her life he won’t steal?!?
It’s okay she’s going to write a hate-song that contains subtle references that *may* mean David O. Russell.
She was asked to write a song called “Maybe It’s Me” and immediately collapsed.
excellent
What David O. Russell has done over many years is way worse than Louis CK, to name just one cancelled creep.
So every David O. Russell film?
so it’s a David O Russell movie then.
the trailers for this flick look completely uninteresting
.
More like AmsterDAMN I wish it had been better?
David O Russel doesn’t really make actual movies with plot or stories. Just collections of scenes for actors to do big acting in.
Just saw this tonight. Agreed that this is a little all over the place and the end rambles a bit. Same exact script and actors under Wes Anderson or the Cohen’s and you probably have a winner.
Literally exactly what i thought. Felt like knock off Coen brothers or Wes Anderson without the visuals or humor.
I sincerely hope that when CinemaSins covers this movie, they have a Bonus Round for what felt like the cast saying “Amsterdam” dozens of times for no reason.
Well in one scene it’s like a phrase cementing their pact, but one or two other times is too much. Other than that the movie is a solid B, I don’t know what everyone is griping about. The director’s crappy personal life shouldn’t affect their grade. (& I know I’m 2 months late. But finally saw the movie.)
You might want to check your optics wording. There were definitely few “long lens” shots in the movie and essentially none of faces. In fact, any of the CU’s or ECU’s of Bale were done on a “short lens” or “wide lens.” Most likely a 24mm FF equivalent or wider.