Switching between New York 1933 and Amsterdam 1918 we are told the story of how a doctor, a lawyer and a rich bohemian meet, become best friends, find themselves accused of murder and uncover a political plot so outrageous it would be hard to believe. But as the opening title card says, “A lot of this really happened”. 

Burt Berendsen (Christian Bale) heads to war at the behest of his wife’s (played brilliantly by Andrea Riseborough) parents who want to get rid of him. Whilst there he meets Harold Woodman (John David Washington) and they become best friends. When injured they are nursed to recovery by Valerie Voze (Margot Robbie) and they all go and live an amazing life in Amsterdam. Until that is Burt returns to New York in order to treat veterans injured in the war. 

In 1933 they find their beloved general has died and consider it suspicious circumstances. When his daughter (Taylor Swift) meets an untimely end they know something is up. They then try to unravel the mystery with the help and hindrance of two policeman (Alessandro Nivola and Matthias Schoenaerts), two spies (Michael Shannon and Michael Myers), a society couple (Rami Malek and Anya Taylor-Joy), another general (Robert De Niro) and a nurse (Zoe Saldana). 

Writer/director David O’Russell is known for making prestige pictures featuring ensemble all star casts with quirky plot lines. Between 2010 and 2013 he made The Fighter, Silver Lining’s Playbook and American Hustle. An impressive run by anyones measure. Since then though we have seen the disowned Accidental Love abandoned by O’Russell in 2010 and finished without him in 2015 likely as an attempt to cash in on the success of the aforementioned run of films and the release of Joy starring Jennifer Lawrence. Both of those films were unmitigated disasters with wildly changing tones and no redeeming features. Seven years on and having ridden out some controversial personal moments which I will refrain from commenting on his return lands somewhere in the middle of those two benchmarks. Amsterdam has the all star cast, it is definitely quirky and it looks stunning. But it also meanders, has a tone that bounces between farce and prestige drama and ultimately ends with a patronising recap that suggests all of its viewers are unable to keep up with the plot or understand the thinly veiled political point. 

It’s a frustrating experience because there is a lot of good here but it really does not live up to the sum of its parts. If it had really leaned into the ridiculousness of its plot and its characters it could have been a brilliant farce wrapped in an almost labyrinthine detective noir. Think P. T. Anderson’s Inherent Vice. Instead, in amongst its flashes of humour O’Russell seems to be going for prestige drama mixed with art house flair. There are many moments where characters seem to repeat lines in a “perfume advert” style (the word Amsterdam is especially a good example of this) and look at the camera and pose in a similar way. I am not sure if any of the stars here need to supplement their income with perfume adverts but this is evidence they could. It is also far too long and far too unfocused in the second half. 

Whilst De Niro is barely acting as the General who espouses the sort of political views he has been saying since Trump’s presidency it was also disappointing to have a recap following his final speech just in case anyone was not following along. 

It is still eminently watchable thanks to some of those brilliant actors though. Christian Bale, in his third film with O’Russell is giving it his absolute all. With a false eye that keeps falling out and his homemade pain killing remedies giving him many pratfalls he absolutely should be in a farce comedy. Similarly the comedy duos of Alessandro Nivola and Matthias Schoenaerts, Michael Shannon and Michael Myers and Rami Malek and Anya Taylor-Joy are all a lot of fun but in a restrained way that I wanted to be let loose a little more. 

A frustrating and entertaining miss then.