Star-studded 'Amsterdam' another disappointment from David O. Russell | Movie review

Oct. 4—"Amsterdam" feels like it should be the spiritual successor to "American Hustle."

Like the latter, an acclaimed 2013 film, the former is a comedy-drama from writer-director David O. Russell boasting an incredibly impressive ensemble with the always-excellent Christian Bale in a lead role.

There is, however, a key difference between the two films: "American Hustle" is a much stronger work than "Amsterdam."

It's apparent from the early minutes of "Amsterdam" — a comedic mystery thriller that blends fascinating fact with rather lackluster fiction — that the divisive filmmaker's latest likely will never come together.

And it doesn't. It's entirely herky-jerky.

Now, to be sure, it has its moments, most of them quirky.

You will smirk at its overall oddity, chuckle at an acting choice or three by Bale and laugh even harder at a camera-framing joke Russell nails. That's not enough, though.

The film was years in the making, with Bale and Russell — the two also having collaborated on 2010's "The Fighter," which earned Bale the best-supporting-actor Academy Award — meeting regularly to pour over ideas for a movie. And yet it so often comes across as half-baked, "Amsterdam" at times feeling as if Russell is doing his best to make a Coen Brothers film, at others as if he's aping Wes Anderson.

At the center of the story is a triumvirate of friends, starting with Bale's Dr. Burt Berendsen, whom we meet in uptown New York City in 1933. Left with pain from his time serving during the Great War, Burt works in a colorful office, where he treats patients — and himself — with drugs he's invented, drugs that aren't approved in any way but that he feels are necessary for many just to get through the day.

Friend No. 2 is Harold Woodman, Esq. (John David Washington), an attorney with an office near Burt's. They served together during the war and made a promise they would always have one another's backs.

While overseas, they encountered — and Harold fell in love with — Valerie Voze (Margot Robbie), a nurse who makes art out of the bloody metal she extracts from soldiers, such as the shrapnel she removes from Burt's back.

She was nuts, Burt tells us through narration, but she was their kind of nuts, and the three spent time together in the movie's titular city in the Netherlands.

Back in the States, she is not in the picture. However, the three are reunited after the boys are pulled into a complex plot — begun when Harold asks a reluctant Burt to perform an autopsy on Bill Meekins (Ed Begley Jr., "Better Call Saul"), the general under whom Harold and Burt served. (It's worth noting Bill's niece, Elizabeth Meekins, is portrayed by music superstar Taylor Swift for a brief but important stretch of "Amsterdam.")

The adventure that lies before Burt, Harold and, eventually, Valerie leads them to, among others, Valerie's brother, Tom (Rami Malek) and his wife, Libby (Anya Taylor-Joy, "The Northman"); a pair of spies and enthusiastic bird watchers, Paul Canterbury (Mike Myers, "The Pentaverate") and Henry Norcross (Michael Shannon, "Nine Perfect Strangers"); and another highly respected retired general, Gilbert Dillenbeck (Robert De Niro, "The Irishman").

Russell's story is inspired by the Business Plot, which entailed a group of wealthy fascists conspiring to replace American President Franklin D. Roosevelt with a highly decorated Marine, Smedley Butler. Although other characters appear to be amalgamations of various folks, it is clear Russell based Dillenbeck largely on Butler.

It's laudable that "Amsterdam" will help some folks learn about this chapter in our history. And you do not exactly need to squint to see parallels to some things happening today. Those are reasons to consider seeing the film.

Another is the on-screen work by Bale ("Vice," "Ford v Ferrari"), who throws everything he has at making the movie as engaging as it possibly can be; there is a lot of try-hard going on here. (And during the post-production phase, according to the film's production notes, he spent a great deal of time sitting in on the editing work, as well.)

As talented as the other two stars are, though, Washington ("BlacKkKlansman," "Tenet") and Robbie ("Once Upon a Time in Hollywood," "The Suicide Squad") do little to impact the film.

However, the movie is lifted, if only a bit, whenever the appealing pair of Myers and Shannon appear, be it that their characters are talking about espionage work or the rewards of birding.

Just how packed is "Amsterdam" with big names? We almost forgot to mention Chris Rock ("Fargo"), as Milton, another veteran of the war who now serves as a legal associate of Harold; Zoe Saldaña ("Guardians of the Galaxy"), as Irma St. Clair, an autopsy nurse and love interest for Burt, whose marriage to the well-to-do Beatrice Vandenheuvel (Andrea Riseborough, "The Electrical Life of Louis Wain") is decidedly shaky; and "The Many Saints of Newark" star Alessandro Nivola as a police detective.

"Amsterdam" is stirred together with so many ingredients to appreciate that it's all the more disappointing they don't congeal into something more substantial.

For someone as gifted as Russell appears to be — "American Hustle," "Flirting With Disaster" (1996) and "Three Kings" (1998) are very strong — his films too often disappoint. His previous film, 2015's "Joy," was entirely forgettable, and what surely is his most-loved effort, 2012's "Silver Linings Playbook" — which also featured De Niro — is highly overrated. And let's just not talk about 2004's "I Heart Huckabees."

OK, so "Amsterdam" isn't his next "American Hustle." Given its cast and story, had Russell merely turned it into a decent Coen brothers imitation or a competent Wes Anderson homage, that probably would have been enough.

'Amsterdam'

Where: Theaters.

When: Oct. 7.

Rated: R for brief violence and bloody images.

Runtime: 2 hours, 14 minutes.

Stars (of four): 2.