Amsterdam (2022)
SHOULD I SEE IT?
YES
Christian Bale, Margot Robbie and John David Washington are a formidable trio, who I’d like to see work together again in something different than Amsterdam.
Below-the-line, the costumes and set design are stellar, with three-time Oscar-winner Emmanuel Lubeszki shooting the film brilliantly.
Cameos and guest appearances aplenty, Amsterdam finds plenty of people willing to ignore Russell’s controversies for this “Night of 1,000 Stars” like movie experience.
NO
David O. Russell has lost his way.
Outside of the novelty of the time period and the steady stream of movie star cameos, Amsterdam feels like an off-brand Wes Anderson or Coen Brothers movie. Watch their movies instead.
Less is more.
OUR REVIEW
Amsterdam marks the return of David O. Russell, whose Oscar-nominated work with films like The Fighter, American Hustle, and Silver Linings Playbook made him a heralded and praised filmmaker on a wide scale. Since his last film Joy was released in 2015, he may be the filmmaker who has advocated for mental health awareness and autism support, but is also documented on several occasions of being abusive to actors on-set and admitted to improperly touching his 19-year-old niece, who he claimed “acted provocatively towards him.”
Apparently Hollywood has forgiven all that because Russell is back with a massive cast like he could land in his heyday. With Amsterdam, he has crafted a rather empty, frenetic, Wes Anderson-style, Coen Brothers-adjacent comedy that runs fast and plays so dense it succeeds only at finding incoherence.
Though comedy and large ensembles are not new for Russell, this endeavor proves an ill fit for someone who lobs feckless jokes and scattershot humor on screen and appears to have lost his way. Amsterdam is a murder mystery, one which covers a 15-20 year span across two continents, takes place during World War I, and plays like a cinematic “Night of 1,000 Stars.”
Familiar faces populate the first 45 minutes or so. The triad of Christian Bale, John David Washington, and Margot Robbie are the constant. Bale portrays Dr. Burt Berendsen, a former soldier in World War I who now treats ailing veterans with unorthodox medical treatments in 1933 New York. His best friend, Harold Woodsman (Washington), served with Burt and now provides legal counsel to Burt’s patients who need assistance in securing benefits or health insurance needs. Robbie plays Valerie Voze, a nurse the two men meet up with in Amsterdam during World War I, who enters into a quasi-platonic throuple with the two buddies before she and Harold fall in love.
The film revolves largely around these three, despite the chaotic jump-ins and jump-outs of a cavalcade of cameos and scattershot plot twists and developments. Despite the messiness at play, within the opening moments Russell lays out the scandal in a relatively accessible way.
Harold and Burt’s former Colonel, and current United States Senator Bill Meekins (Ed Begley, Jr.), has turned up dead and daughter Elizabeth (Taylor Swift) suspects murder. She demands Burt conduct an immediate autopsy, which brings into the fold a colleague, Dr. Irma St. Clair (Zoe Saldaña). With the autopsy complete, Harold and Burt go to meet up with Elizabeth at a nearby restaurant. When things unexpectedly go awry and Harold and Burt are suddenly accused of murder, they are forced to prove their innocence, all while ducking and weaving two bumbling detectives (Alessandro Nivola, Matthias Schoenaerts).
And that’s merely the first 15 minutes.
Amsterdam never stops this breakneck pace but the film’s dry, droll nature never catches light. There just is not enough interest in Russell’s concept to keep us engaged for a laboring 134 minutes. Pausing the events in 1933 New York, we jump back to see how Burt and Harold first met and formed a bond with another former soldier/now turned attorney (Chris Rock). Sent to Europe, their regiment is ambushed and Burt and Harold suffer graphic injuries, which result in a significant amount of shrapnel being removed from their bodies (which is how they meet Margot Robbie’s nurse character), and leads to Burt losing his right eye.
If you love seeing glass eyes constantly off-center and pop out of a guy’s head frequently, you’re in luck! Russell hits that joke button a good half-dozen times or so.
Rock and Swift are just the beginning of the aforementioned showcase of stars. Andrea Riseborough pops in and out as Burt’s estranged wife, whose wealthy parents can’t stand her husband. Michael Shannon and Mike Myers arrive as bird watchers and glass eye salesmen; Rami Malek plays Tom, Valerie’s brother, while Anya Taylor-Joy plays his wife as the two tend to Robbie in New York. We even have Robert De Niro portray Gil Dillenback, a former general who arrives late in the film to add political heft to a clumsy subtext that runs alongside the madcap hijinks which likely make Russell laugh heartily but only generate the most modest of chuckles from the rest of us.
Somewhat modeled after true events when it comes to elements of the war-related portions of the story and De Niro’s character, Amsterdam simply spins its wheels. Fitfully boring the longer it goes, the technical accomplishments only carry the film so far. Emmanuel Lubezki’s camera finds itself in some curious places, with occasional framing distorting our sense of space and context. Largely, this could be relating to Burt’s struggles with having a “clear vision” as events unfold, but it also could simply be another nod-and-wink to those glass eye jokes. Russell does love those.
I would be remiss to not praise J.R. Hawbaker and Albert Wolsky’s costuming, which does attempt to illuminate traits and characteristics among the main cast members. The work on Robbie alone when the three reside in Amsterdam together is subtle and effective in defining why Harold and Burt form a close connection with her. The sets and backdrops look authentic, and Russell does try to draw us into his vision of the time period.
Bale plays Burt like a Peter Falk-style gumshoe, chewing on every vowel as the words spill out of his mouth. Washington is cautious and inviting with Harold, while Robbie provides the closest thing to relatability with a spunk and vitality that keeps us interested in her actions and motivations. Together, they make a formidable tandem in a film that just flails. There are some interesting ideas that Russell could have tapped into more; digging into the political landscape of the time period, the genuine fears of dictators seizing more and more power, and certainly the classism that has infected American culture for centuries.
Those ideas and concepts take a backseat to Russell wanting to be nutty and goofy. Eventually the three main characters, reunited in 1930s New York (in a rather nebulous way), begin to chip away at the truth behind the death of Senator Meekins. By the time we get into Eastern Europe fascism and potential ties to world leaders of the era, Amsterdam has become so exhausting, I, for one couldn’t find any reason to truly care about anything happening before me.
Wes Anderson and the Coen Brothers have this kind of off-kilter, run-ragged, unique brand of filmmaking patented and trademarked. For Russell to attempt something like this, he almost immediately seems out of his depth. Instead of something clever, he’s crafted a disjointed story that not only sees his talented cast work hard to get nowhere, but doesn’t make his return anything significant or celebratory. Instead, Amsterdam becomes instantly forgettable once each scene fades to the next.
CAST & CREW
Starring: Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, John David Washington, Alessandro Nivola, Matthias Schoenaerts, Andrea Riseborough, Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Rock, Michael Shannon, Mike Myers, Taylor Swift, Timothy Olyphant, Zoe Saldaña, Rami Malek, Robert De Niro, Ed Begley Jr., Casey Biggs, Dey Young, Rebecca Wisosky, Daniel Riordan
Director: David O. Russell
Written by: David O. Russell
Release Date: October 7, 2022
Walt Disney Studios