American Hustle 2013**

As its name suggests, this acclaimed film is too culture specific for others to relate to and ends up being passably watchable. On the other hand, "hustling", (conman ship), in the shrinking globe, seems to be the universal strategy, unifying prince and pauper, whether countries or persons: corporates, politicians, mobsters. Survival is the problem and priority, in the complex jungle which we inhabit, as it has always been. It resembles the Coen brothers' "A Serious Man" in its' description of people trapped in the chaos of life, repeatedly bumping into the unexpected unforeseen. A depressingly enjoyable ribald comedy, punctuated with four letter dialog, presumably the current currency, never losing the straw of hope, and ending happily ever after.