dir. David O. Russell
Amsterdam is an absolutely inexplicable film, in that it’s very difficult to understand what on earth is going on at any given moment. The twisting, turning plot somehow manages to be convoluted and completely boring at the same time. The characters are so thinly drawn that it’s impossible to care what’s happening, whether Taylor Swift’s getting shoved in front of a car or Christian Bale’s spending the entire movie at a bizarre sideways neck bend as though it’s a personality trait. It is absolutely stunning that so many otherwise talented actors are in this film, because no one turns in a decent performance. Everyone’s acting has the melodramatic quality of a telenovela, except Amsterdam is supposed to be taken as a wry, witty take on a serious matter, the Business Plot conspiracy theory. If you knew nothing about the Business Plot before, you are guaranteed to leave Amsterdam somehow knowing even less.
BMDb 