"Amsterdam" on HBO Max
Christian Bale gives a sterling performance in this comedy about three World War I veterans (Bale, Margot Robbie, and John David Washington) whose postwar idyll in the eponymous city gives way to political intrigue when they return to the states and become embroiled in a plot against America that actually happened. Bale basically plays Peter Falk as Lt. Columbo but it works in this relentlessly quirky but engaging story about friendship, love and patriotism. An all-star supporting cast includes Rami Malek as a Park Avenue rich guy, Chris Rock as one of the trio's war buddies and Ed Begley Jr. as their commanding officer, Mike Myers and Michael Shannon as bird-watching government spies, Zoe Saldaña as a medical examiner, and Robert De Niro as a retired general based on Smedley Butler. Timothy Olyphant is in this too but I did not recognize him until the closing credits.
Critics mostly panned this movie but I was hooked from the first few minutes. It has such a strong Wes Anderson vibe I had to keep reminding myself he didn't direct it, and just as in Anderson's work, the acting sparkles and the dialogue is rich and crackling, with lines like: "When you see someone, and you really see them, you see the kid who used to be them." Be advised that there are a lot of gory scenes but ultimately this is a mostly fun romp through one of America's darkest moments, one that is scarily relevant to us today.