DIRECTOR David O. Russell has made some good movies. The film that put him on the map, 1999’s Three Kings, was a film about American soldiers robbing one of Saddam Hussein’s gold caches. The Fighter was a dramatic boxing film with its own charm, and Silver Linings Playbook was an entertaining romance film.
At some point along the way, presumably after 2013’s American Hustle, Russell began shoving big stars into his films, and in this one, it has become overbearing.
The inclusion of acting heavyweights (and Taylor Swift) is an obnoxious affair Amsterdam revels in. Scenes where new characters are introduced, of which there are many, inevitably become a starchaser’s dream.
Every 20 or so minutes in Amsterdam’s arduous 2 hour 14 minute runtime will make the audience question: “Oh, who will play this new person whose name was just mentioned?”
This over-reliance on the ensemble cast gimmick – and I can’t stress this enough – is terrible filmmaking, because it takes the viewer out of the film’s story.
It’s simple immersion-breaking, and in Amsterdam, it feels like the casting was done by an Internet A.I. algorithm.
Speaking of the story, while well intentioned in its finality, due to the revolving door of characters (and actors) that Russell introduces, Amsterdam regularly loses the plot.
