Why Did 'American Hustle' Leave Oscar Night Empty-Handed?

American Hustle released in late December last year to almost widespread critical acclaim. It also won a good number of pre-Oscar critics awards (IMDb informs me that the film won 50 awards total against 86 nominations). I liked the film but thought the film didn't deserve the thunderous hype. Even so, people were speculating that it would be a heavy contender at the Oscars

And they were right. The movie scored a whopping 10 Oscar nominations: Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, Actress, Actor, Supporting Actress, Supporting Actor, Editing, Costume Design and Production Design. It scored more nominations than any other film except for Gravity, which also received 10 nominations (and seven wins).

But on Oscar Night, the film left empty-handed. I was surprised. It had the biggest chance in 2 categories: Costumes and Supporting Actress for Jennifer Lawrence. The race between Lawrence and eventual winner Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave) was tighter than ever. The 70s costumes might have attracted voters. Or maybe the screenplay would have won, beating the sci-fi oddball romance Her.

In my predictions, I guessed that American Hustle would be shut out. But honestly, I figured I'd be wrong. There was a chance that the Academy would throw Hustle an obligatory win simply to justify the film's presence in all the major categories (much like how last year Lincoln randomly won Best Production Design alongside the expected Best Actor because winning two out of twelve nominations is less pathetic than one out of twelve).

American Hustle wasn't the only Best Picture nominee to lose in all its categories. Philomena, The Wolf of Wall Street, Captain Philips (all pictured above), and Nebraska all were win-less. But Hustle's losses are the most embarrassing because it emphasized that, however enjoyable and fun, Hustle is essentially a hollow film that failed to justify its own existence as a major awards contender. Silver Linings Playbook and The Fighter slyly subverted the romantic-comedy and the sports melodrama respectively but Hustle plays it completely straight. Though there were a handful of inspired moments, the film does not come together as a whole.

In my opinion, American Hustle deserved about 7 of its 10 nominations. But the editing? The costumes? Production design? In my opinion, these were perfunctory nominations in a "might as well put Hustle there because we need a fifth nominee" kind of way. I don't mean to rag on Hustle too much. I liked the film. But I loved the idea of it more. It's an enjoyable film but not worthy of ten Oscar nominations, let alone any wins.

Put simply, the Academy liked American Hustle enough to nominate it for 10 categories but not enough for it to actually win anything. Hustle lacked the historical importance of 12 Years a Slave or Dallas Buyers Club, the technical achievements of Gravity, or the pure impressiveness of Her and Blue Jasmine in their winning categories. It's a film that feels somewhat slight compared to the artistic heights 2013 saw in filmmaking.