Amsterdam

Directed by David O. Russell, Amsterdam follows three friends (Christian Bale’s Burt Berendsen, Margot Robbie’s Valerie Voze, and John David Washington’s Harold Woodsman) as they find themselves caught up in a scheme to overthrow no less than the President of the United States. It’s a reasonable-enough premise that’s employed to increasingly endless and flat-out incoherent effect by Russell, as the filmmaker, armed with his wildly unfocused screenplay, delivers a would-be comedy that lurches gracelessly from one inept, underwhelming sequence to the next and ultimately builds towards a meaningless, interminable third act – with the movie’s massive failure especially disappointing given the veritable cavalcade of familiar faces in supporting roles. There’s little doubt, too, that Russell’s inability to offer up even a single engrossing sequence plays a considerable part in cementing Amsterdam‘s palpable downfall, and it goes without saying, ultimately, that the movie’s total absence of forward momentum ensures that it feels much, much longer than its padded-out 134 minutes. (It’s also possible to emerge from the film and still have no idea what it was actually about.) It’s ultimately fairly apparent that Russell’s ongoing efforts at cultivating the feel and tone of a briskly-paced screwball comedy fall hopelessly and utterly flat, which does, when coupled with a paucity of compelling (or even three-dimensional) protagonists, confirm Amsterdam‘s place as a misbegotten misfire that undoubtedly stands as a low point for everyone involved.

* out of ****