His actors were given necessary room to gain custody of the picture, with O Russel taking a stylistic step backwards. In other films this might’ve been a flaw, where even though the film is lit with the golden glow of the 70‘s, the visual style is typically bland. The camera merely follows around the characters in the routine standardized style for directors who want to shoot like Scorsese, though O Russel can’t abandon his core sensibilities, and he uses indie-cam constantly. A lesser director would have asserted a more authoritative stylistic presence, but O Russel wisely reigns it in. It’s the cast’s show, O Russel knows it, and he generously gives his film to them. It’s only during the big moments do the cocaine fueled camera moves set in, usually running into or out of the faces of the major characters. These moments of flamboyance are mostly well timed, and add necessary visual flair while they frame the performances as the spectacles that they are. The entire cast is wonderful. It’s the mark of a great director to know when to push the performances and when to push the direction: a delicate dance where O Russel is brave enough to know when to lead.

Cooper doesn’t match the heart or the complexity of his stellar performance in Silver Linings Playbook, but he enters the picture like a sub machine gun and he never stops firing. Cooper’s performance is a rush of conflicting emotions struggling to resolve themselves from scene to scene. If his character is a cartoon, it’s of the most prestigious variety, and he’s the most consistently funny character in the film. Had Bale not given the bazooka of a performance that he did, Cooper just might have stolen away the film in the same way co-star Bale’s character Irving steals from everyone else. Ranking not only as one of his best transformations, but as one of his best performances to date, Iving shows Bale at his energized best. Few actors could have taken a fattened and balding body and convincingly portrayed a man bursting with dominating swagger. He’s a con man with a conscience and a romantic too, giving Bale reason to show a warmth and hopefulness he’s never had to in any prior role.