Amsterdam

At the beginning of October, Amsterdam was released into theaters. Amsterdam follows three friends as they are framed for a murder that they witnessed. To clear their names, they attempt to pursue the true killer but soon find themselves uncovering one of the most outrageous plots in American history.

There is a lot of fun to be had with this movie. It is a drama-comedy so it has quite a few funny moments, multiple of which made me laugh out loud. I also really enjoyed the setting of the film. It takes place in America between WW1 and WW2 and it is really interesting to see the movie tying into those events and making references to events and figures of the time such as Hitler and Mussolini. The main plot was also quite interesting and the whole political conspiracy that is tied in. Though, the standout of the film is just the all-star cast. There are so many big-name actors and actresses in the film (Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, Robert De Niro, Taylor Swift, John David Washington, Rami Malek, Anya Taylor Joy, Zoe Saldana, Mike Myers, Chris Rock, and Michael Shannon) It was just so much fun seeing all of these characters interacting together, Every scene there was some new big name actor that shows up and it was just so fun to be able to see them and be like "hey that's Chris Rock" or "hey that's Mike Myers). I also liked how all of these actors actually had somewhat significant parts in the film instead of teasing them in the trailer and then in the movie giving them a glorified cameo role. Within this all-star cast, the three main characters Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, and John David Washington really stand out. Their chemistry together is great and they are just such strong actors to lead the film.

Unfortunately, the movie's biggest strength also leads to its biggest weakness. With so many strong characters, it felt like the movie was written around which big actor they could include in the next scene instead of a connected and compelling story. This leads to a lot of times where the trio shows up at someone's house and meets a big-name star, only to be told that they have to go to another place and meet another big-name star instead of having each individual scene have something meaningful and add to the story. Doing this really leads to some clunky storytelling and doesn't let the story flow as naturally as it could. Along the same line, the story is also extremely convoluted. A lot is going on and so many characters getting involved in what is happening which again was a consequence of having so many big-name actors in the film. I believe there is a version of this story that can pull off all of these characters but this movie doesn't quite manage it.

Overall, this movie was entertaining enough. It was really fun to see all of these big-name stars in the film interacting with each other. Unfortunately, the story is too clunky and convoluted that it really falls short of its potential.

Score: 6.5/10 Grade: B- Recommendation: Worth checking out purely for the all-star cast

R-Rating Disclaimer: This movie is rated R for violence and some bloody images. However, these sequences are few and far between and any casual PG-13 viewer would be able to handle this film.