Film Review: “Amsterdam': A Warning About the Rise of Fascism in the USA

R | 2h 14m | Comedy, Farce, Drama | October 7, 2022

“A lot of this actually happened.”

So opens the elaborate screwball mystery “Amsterdam,” from  director David O. Russell who brought us “American Hustle,” “The Fighter,” and “Silver Linings Playbook.”

Which is to say, it’s an overlong but also sometimes hilariously quirky riff on 1933’s little-known “White House putsch,” wherein a cabal of wealthy American businessmen conspired to overthrow President Franklin D. Roosevelt, hoping to dupe one retired U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Smedley Darlington Butler into leading their fascist veteran’s organization.

The jokes are mild but funny and the cast is great, but most audiences will be bored. It moves too slowly. Some audiences will love it. I, for one, just enjoyed watching A-list actors dress up in period costumes and deliver oddball comedy with deadpan deliveries.

Annnd—Amsterdam Synopsis!

The setting is New York City, 1933. Dr. Burt Berendsen (Christian Bale) is a World War I vet, who served in the same regiment as attorney Harold Woodman (John David Washington).

The two, one white, one black, are best friends, having bonded for life as blood brothers, gripping each other’s bloody hands in the ER, to get themselves through all manner of excruciating shrapnel extractions.

(L–R) Burt Berendsen (Christian Bale), Valerie Voze (Margot Robbie), and Harold Woodman (John David Washington), in "Amsterdam." (20th Century Studios)

After the war and before returning to Manhattan, they both spend time carousing in Amsterdam with the nurse who removed their shrapnel and bonded with them in the process, like a sister.

She’s free-spirited artist Valerie Voze (Margot Robbie), who makes art out of her wounded-soldier shrapnel collection. Such as a functional tea set. Some people are horrified and aghast by this. The three laugh, drink, dance a tremendous amount, and sing made-up nonsensical songs. Life is grand!

And then … they all go their separate ways, even though Valerie and Harold are in love (she wishes to return to America) and they lose track of her.

Doctor Burt eventually marries wealthy Beatrice (Andrea Riseborough) but her snooty Park Avenue family boot him out of the house when he didn’t come home a war hero. He begins practicing clinical trial medicine in dank, dreary alleyways, treating fellow vets with self-concocted pain pills.

By the way, Burt’s got a glass eye (after “The Big Short,” this is Bale’s second “glass eye” role). Bale is also one of the few British actors who call pull off an old school, just-shy-of-Brooklynese-caricature, New Yawk accent. Which makes Bale’s Burt, with the roving eye—since he’s also trying to get to the bottom of a bunch of mysteries—a lot like a 1930’s version of Peter Falk’s “Columbo.” The eye also occasionally pops out—"Boingk! Clink-clink-clink“—and hilarity ensues.

More Synopsis!

The two men eventually meet mysterious Liz Meekins (Taylor Swift) whose father Bill (Ed Begley, Jr.) was their commanding officer. In fact, Bill was to give a speech at Burt’s annual N.Y. Veterans Reunion Show.

But suddenly Bill’s dead! In a pine box. Which allows their friend Milton (Chris Rock) an excellent speech (as only Rock can deliver it) about what will happen if he and attorney Harold (two black men) get caught in the near vicinity of a dead white man in a box.

Liz Meekins begs Burt to perform an autopsy, fearing her dad died under mysterious circumstances. But then she, herself, gets squashed by a motor vehicle before Burt and Harold’s very eyes! And now someone’s trying to pin it all on them and turn them into patsies!

(L–R) Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, and John David Washington in "Amsterdam." (20th Century Studios)

Meanwhile, a couple of secret agent men (Mike Meyers and Michael Shannon), pretending to be avid birdwatchers, have taken an interest in the proceedings. Please note: They are controversial birdwatchers; they have theories about the cuckoo bird’s nasty tendencies to take over other bird’s nests, which may or may not be a metaphor for the above-mentioned political putsch. Remember the political putsch? This is a movie about a political putsch.

Retired Gen. Gil Dillenbeck (Robert De Niro) in "Amsterdam." (20th Century Studios)

Which brings us to America’s premiere retired general, Gil Dillenbeck (Robert De Niro), who is being courted by a secret organization, to lead said putsch.

And There You Have it

Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, and John David Washington bring laughs to a exhaustingly wacky riff on a real-life fascist conspiracy in 1930s New York, in "Amsterdam." (20th Century Studios)

As mentioned, Bale gives a fabulously cracked performance. With the accent and a slightly toned-down Kramer-from-“Seinfeld” hairdo, his good doctor consistently leans forward and enters spaces headfirst—you’re constantly worried he’s on the verge of toppling over. Which occasionally he does. It’s a very ambitious physical-comedy undertaking. Bale doesn’t have fellow Brit comedy specialists Peter Sellers’s, Rowan Atkinson’s, or John Cleese’s knack for physical comedy, but he can definitely pull off a joke.

Rami Malek is quietly funny as Valerie’s wealthy, velvet-y-voiced brother Tom,  charming and insinuating (and part of the putsch). Mike Myers is fun as MI6 operative Paul Canterbury, and Matthias Schoenaerts and Alessandro Nivola are snicker-worthy as two lumpen-proletariat cops.

The big-name supporting cast of “Amsterdam” includes Rami Malek and Anya Taylor-Joy as a grating husband and wife, in "Amsterdam." (20th Century Studios)

With so many great actors it’s difficult to single out one performance, and I’ve talked a lot about Christian Bale, but ultimately it’s Margot Robbie’s vivacious Valerie that injects some vim, vigor, and vitality into Russell’s story on sheer star wattage alone. And it needs that.

Ultimately

Also as mentioned, “Amsterdam” is too long and moves too slowly. One finds oneself wishing Christopher Walken would suddenly cameo as his “Saturday Night Live” music producer, suggesting, “It needs more cowbell!” Or more action, or slapstick, or something. Plus a hefty script cut.

The dialogue is funny, for sure, and “Amsterdam” shows great support for America’s veterans, which is nice. The trio of protagonists are very close to being something out of a Coen brothers or a Wes Anderson comedy; it’s got that circus-y touch. The cast is fun to be around. And yet ...

(L–R, foreground, starting second from left) John David Washington, Margot Robbie, and Chris Rock boo a small faction of proto-Nazis at a function for veterans in 1930s New York, in "Amsterdam." (20th Century Studios)

The whole underlying putsch business works against the breeziness and nimbleness needed for this kind of caper: The grim fact that that historical instance of American proto-fascism existed, means the comedy isn’t going to be too lighthearted.

But more than that, it’s a bit of a heavy-handed message from the director, suggesting that this early example of fascism taking root in America is history currently repeating itself. Which half the country agrees with, but the remaining half don’t. The Democrats feel the Republican party is trying to ignite a forest fire of fascism in America, and conservatives see liberals and socialists as allowing Communism to blossom. Both are definitely bad outcomes, but the latter is a far worse possibility, as history has shown. With the plethora of nasty ism’s headed our way, we should choose our ism’s carefully.

Overall, amusing, but I wouldn’t watch it again. And if I hadn’t been trapped in a movie theater I would have hit pause and started looking for something more stimulating.

Movie poster for "Amsterdam." (20th Century Studios)

‘Amsterdam’ Director: David O. Russell Starring: Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, Robert De Niro, Chris Rock, Rami Malek, Zoe Saldaña, Timothy Olyphant, Taylor Swift, John David Washington, Anya Taylor-Joy, Mike Myeres, Michael Shannon, Alessandro Nivola, Andrea Riseborough MPAA Rating: R Running Time: 2 hours, 14 minutes Release Date: Oct. 7, 2022 Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5