The trailer for David O. Russell’s latest ensemble romp, “Amsterdam,” seems to promise some kind of 1930s-set caper about a dead body and a trio of friends who are fingered for a murder. Presumably, Amsterdam will figure in, but the premise presented is vague at best. As it turns out, the trailer is sly by design, and the film itself doesn’t even give away its own gambit — and reason for existing — until the very end.
“Amsterdam” boasts all the markers of a prestigious project, including a cavalcade of movie stars, from Oscar-winners (Christian Bale, Rami Malek) to stunt casting (Taylor Swift, Mike Myers). There’s Emmanuel Luzbeki’s desaturated, sepia-stained cinematography, because “historical.” It’s also a new project after many years from an Oscar-nominated auteur who has his own laundry list of personal and professional marks on his record, though that has apparently not deterred many lauded actors from signing up for this film.
At its core, “Amsterdam” is a movie about friendship, and kindness, a theme that Russell underlines and italicizes in its last moments. But it’s a challenge to buy what he’s selling here, when even he doesn’t seem to buy it. It’s the kind of movie where monologues about friendship and kindness play over montages of characters dancing, making art and lying on the floor, which stands in for actual character development and relationships that have been fully fleshed out in the writing.
