The big movie that is set to open this weekend is David O Russell’s Amsterdam. Much like his other films, it’s set to be a period piece that puts big emphasis on it’s costume/production design and a tremendously talented cast that clocks in at over two hours. Even with it’s less than stellar reviews thus far, it’s almost guaranteed to be looked at by the Academy, just like a handful of previous films directed by O Russell, as potential nominations for big Oscar categories. Despite being the main movie releasing this weekend and even getting an invite for an advance screening that actually took place tonight, I will not see or review Amsterdam ever. Why is it you may ask? David O Russell himself.
In case anyone is unaware about David O Russell, he is to put it nicely not a great or even a good person. He is a director that has known for being absolutely terrible towards his cast and crew on and off a movie set and has been physically/emotional abusive towards them as well. George Clooney and Lily Tomlin has spoke up about the toxicity that is David O Russell, Christian Bale saw O Russell scream uncontrollably at Amy Adams, and he even physically attacked director Christopher Nolan at a party in 2003. The most disturbing one of all is when he not only was accused but even ADMITTED to groping his transgender niece in 2011. A man sexual harassed his niece and admit straight up to it with no shame or remorse whatsoever.
Despite all of that, he is still getting work. Despite having all of this allegations and accusation against them with many of them proven to be true, he is still getting work in Hollywood.
Even taking out the fact that he is a terrible human being, O Russell has to be the most profoundly overrated director in recent memory. While I’ll admit I haven’t seen his films before The Fighter, every movie he has made since then have been overhyped, overpraised garbage. Silver Linings Playbook and Joy are below average pictures at best that are only made somewhat watchable due to it’s charming cast, mostly Jennifer Lawrence. And American Hustle is an absolute dumpster fire of a movie with a bloated runtime, inconsistent tone, and a complete lack of a cohesive script and structure. Not even the (admittedly) stunning presence of Amy Adams in that film could save it. If that’s not the worst movie to ever be nominated for best picture, it is certainly near the top of the list for me. And if what I’m hearing from early reviews of Amsterdam is any indication, it’s looking like it takes the problems of all three prior David O Russell and cranks it up to 11. I can’t imagine that being an absolute pleasant experience at all.
Despite the fact that there has been complete evidence of David O Russell being a complete and utter asshole and makes bad films that aged worse than sour milk, he still has a job in Hollywood. That in of itself remains the greatest mystery in some time. Not only he is still making movies, but he is still getting all of these immensely talented and recognizable actors/actresses that want to or still want to work for him.
Even someone like Christian Bale, who saw O Russell himself scream at Amy Adams and had to have been aware that he attacked his former director Christopher Nolan, is still working for him and have even mention to want to continue to work with him. That is all just completely and utterly bizarre to me.
While a big part of me wants to lose a ton of respect of all these usually wonderful talents like Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, John David Washington, Chris Rock, Zoe Saldana, Mike Myers, Anna Taylor Joy, Timothy Olyphant, Michael Shannon, Rami Malek, Robert De Niro and anyone else that worked with O Russell on Amsterdam, another part of me wants to know if something else is going on here that we are not aware of.
Do the cast know something about David O Russell than we don’t know? Are they really that desperate for work that they need to rely on going back to O Russell to keep their Hollywood careers going? Is their some sort of hold that O Russell has on them? Is he blackmailing them in some way? Your answer to any of these questions is about as good as mine.
It’s just seems baffling to me how these successful group of actors and actresses continue to line up to work on his movies. Especially someone like Margot Robbie, who has been outspoken about sexual harassment in Hollywood including starring in Bombshell and producing Promising Young Woman, two movies about sexual assault and the impact it has on women, had no problem being a movie with a director who have been accused of multiple harassments and even admitted to one with his niece. Things like that makes this whole situation feel completely off-putting.
This is the kind of post that is reminiscent of the one I wrote in March about J.K. Rowling and Fantastic Beats. It’s a movie that I have zero interest even if you are able to separate the artist from the art. A not-so-good person is involved with making movies I think are not-so-good whatsoever and because of that, I don’t want to spend the time and money to go out in theaters and see it. At least in the case of J.K. Rowling, she never physically assault someone to my understanding. Plus, I could at least think a reason or two for wanting to give the Fantastic Beasts a chance after getting to explore the iconic world of Harry Potter. I can’t think of any case whatsoever of wanting to check out a David O Russell film in any way, shape, or form.
However, considering that Amsterdam seems to be getting panned in reviews, gaining a dreadful 31% critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of this post, maybe the David O Russell bubble is finally about to burst. Perhaps now that even critics don’t seem to be on his side anymore that will lead to the end of O Russell time in Hollywood and being able to be held accountable for his disastrous behavior over the years. One can only hope but regardless, I will not be seeing Amsterdam and I will certainly not be reviewing it.
Here are a handful of sources that dive deeper into the pure awfulness that is David O. Russell:
Adam's Blog 