Amsterdam is a train wreck. It is about the importance of democracy, but writer-director David O.Russell (Silver Linings Playbook) needed to relinquish his control and listen to those who said gore is not funny. No laughing here. This script is deadly serious. But the confusion from ha ha to help help shown in Christian Bale's character shows the ambivalence David O Russell had in his point of view. Chaos is not plot or so Norman Mailer taught me. And Mr. Russell should have heeded Mr. Mailer's advice if he had had the opportunity. This film is about the power of agents to get a stellar cast to be a part of mediocrity. Agents read script, and sold stars on the idea that this story was an important part of today's political scene with Maga and Trump promoting violence, promoting corporation tax cuts, promoting fascism. Ah ha! the stars said, "Add me to the cast!" And so you have Bobby De Niro playing a character who could be our President. Since he is far left, he wanted the opportunity to point out the importance of voting and voting for a candidate with morals. Unlike we have recently witnessed. De Niro steals the film. You could skip the first hour and get on board for De Niro's dynamic performance. Margot Robbie is refreshing in her excellence as minimally sexy while portraying a character who fights for justice. Taylor Swift begins the film in a terrific cameo. One only wishes she had a larger part, Chris Rock is also in a too-small part but steals all scenes. His timing is impeccable. Mike Meyers is adequate in unfunny scenes and sadly his comedic talents are wasted. Zoe Saldana is again in a part that you wish were bigger to match her appeal. And Rami Malek playing the evil corporate tycoon, But with a cast like this and a subject as important as any could be in our current climate of dare I say espionage how could David O. Russell lose? Well, he did! Scratch Amsterdam off the 'to see" list.
