A con man, Irving Rosenfeld, along with his seductive partner Sydney Prosser, is forced to work for a wild F.B.I. Agent, Richie DiMaso, who pushes them into a world of Jersey powerbrokers an... Read allA con man, Irving Rosenfeld, along with his seductive partner Sydney Prosser, is forced to work for a wild F.B.I. Agent, Richie DiMaso, who pushes them into a world of Jersey powerbrokers and the Mafia.A con man, Irving Rosenfeld, along with his seductive partner Sydney Prosser, is forced to work for a wild F.B.I. Agent, Richie DiMaso, who pushes them into a world of Jersey powerbrokers and the Mafia.
- Nominated for 10 Oscars
- 70 wins & 227 nominations total
Elisabeth Röhm
- Dolly Polito
- (as Elisabeth Rohm)
Saïd Taghmaoui
- Irv's Sheik Plant
- (as Said Taghmaoui)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAccording to Christian Bale, much of the movie was improvised. So during the shooting of the film, he noted to writer and director David O. Russell, "You realize that this is going to change the plot greatly down track." To which Russell replied, "Christian, I hate plots. I am all about characters, that's it."
- GoofsThe book that inspired Rosalyn, "Power of Intention" by Wayne Dyer was written in 2004.
- Quotes
Sydney Prosser: You're nothing to me until you're everything.
- Crazy creditsAn opening title card states, "Some of this actually happened."
- Alternate versionsThe leaked Academy Awards DVDSCR had the following differences.
- A line of alternate dialogue in a voice over.
- A few digitally altered shots.
- The scene where Irving and his wife arguing has been trimmed.
- The scene immediately following that scene with Irving in the car is shorter as well.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Episode #22.55 (2014)
- SoundtracksJeep's Blues
Written by Duke Ellington & Johnny Hodges
Performed by Duke Ellington
Courtesy of Columbia Records
By arrangement with Sony Music Licensing
Featured review
Great performances in a mediocre, poorly paced and written film
Frankly, the movie itself does not live up to its hype. I never was fully engaged with any character even though it takes more than enough time and delivers a tedious and often painstaking pace. Honestly, it felt to me like the film dragged and that the ending would never arrive. Even though not fully engaged and not empathetic towards any character depicted, there is enough style that I somehow cared about how the story ended. Every scene seemed to me like an exercise in an acting class. It feels like a professor took a group of talented actors and gave them this over-the-top 1970's assignment. Everyone gets an "A" because they are that good but it barely felt like a coherent film to me. It's like their assignment included constant references to try and deliver a "Goodfellas" type tone without having a script to back it up. The events of the conclusion were so easy to spot that I'm sure most everyone will see it coming a mile away.
Overall, interesting but there is far less substance than I was expecting. I have to say this was a let down.
Overall, interesting but there is far less substance than I was expecting. I have to say this was a let down.
helpful•5851
- McGrit
- Dec 20, 2013
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Languages
- Also known as
- American Bullshit
- Filming locations
- Boston, Massachusetts, USA(as Philadelphia)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $40,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $150,117,807
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $740,455
- Dec 15, 2013
- Gross worldwide
- $251,171,807
- Runtime2 hours 18 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content