David O. Russell seems to love them quirky, using a gallery of picaresque characters to tell a straightforward story. In fact, a very strong and important story that in my humble opinion loses part of its punch because so many of the characters look and behave so strangely that they seem borderline cartoons. This is mainly true of all the upper-class types and of Christian Bale's character who's both the lead and the narrator of the story. Yes, he performs superbly, but he can't be fully credible when he's portrayed the way Russell chooses to portray him - a shady doctor, a semi drug addict and a weird looking guy. I know, he's showing the effect of war injury, as do many of the characters he cares for. And showing us how terrible that war was is an important part of the story. But think about Jhon David Washington's character - who was injured in the same war, and you'll realize it didn't have to look so bizarre.

That's the reason I used the term "picaresque" as part of the picaresque genre requires both a hero who's not looking too heroic and a cartoonish depiction of the upper-class. We get both of these requirements here, but I think we shouldn't. I think the story told as is without the manneristic bits is way stronger, as it should be. Mainly since it did take place in the real USA with real flesh and blood people who really thought to overthrow an elected president for their own gain. Making them cartoonish may be funny, but it misses the point if we don't realize how real the entire story was.

I must also say that part of the problem is that some of these cartoons are performed so brilliantly it only adds to the problem. That is - both Anya Taylor-Joy and Rami Malek are superbly funny, and Michael Shannon and Mike Myers don't fall far behind them.

Yes, Margot Robbie and Jhon David Washington both perform straightforward characters and also give a top notch performance with Robert De Niro being as dependable as ever.

Bottom line - a great movie that in my humble opinion would have been greater if the director dared making it less funny.