A fictionalized account of the late 1970s Abscam scandal: When a small time con man (Christian Bale) is forced to work with the FBI to avoid being convicted, he and his sultry cohort (Amy Adams) are drawn into an agent's (Bradley Cooper) bizarre plan to take down federal officials. Also with Jeremy Renner, Jennifer Lawrence, Louis C.K., Jack Huston, Michael Peña and Shea Whigham. Directed by David O. Russell. [2:18]

SEX/NUDITY 6 - A man and a woman are shown having sex and we see her bare shoulders as he thrusts on top of her; she is later shown kissing his cheek and lying on top of him (her bare shoulders and back are shown). A man takes a woman into a public restroom and shoves her into a stall, she leans against the wall and he pulls up her skirt (we see her bare buttocks), they kiss and stop short of having sex.
► A woman is shown dancing in an exotic dance club and she is wearing pasties and thong panties that reveal her bare breasts, abdomen, back, buttocks and legs. A woman removes her top and we see her wearing a skin-tight body suit as she crawls seductively toward her husband and reaches out for him to join her in bed. A woman wears extremely low-cut tops and dresses that reveal her bare abdomen and part of her bare breasts in many scenes. A woman wears a sheer top that reveals cleavage and nipples through the fabric along with a skirt that reveals her bare legs to the hip. A woman's top is made of sheer material and her nipples can be seen through the fabric. A huge photograph of a nude man is shown hanging on an office wall and we see his bare chest, abdomen and legs with his hand placed over his genitals. Women are shown wearing swimwear in a photo shoot scene and their cleavage, bare abdomens and legs are seen. A woman wears a cut-out swim suit that reveals bare sides, cleavage, abdomen and back. Men and women are shown wearing swimwear while in and around a hot tub (bare chests, abdomens, backs and legs are shown). A woman wears a low-cut top that reveals deep cleavage. We see a woman dressing (her bare shoulders and cleavage are seen) and her bare thighs are shown as she puts on stockings. A woman's dress hangs open and we see her panties. A man wears swim trunks and his shirt hangs open revealing his bare abdomen and part of his chest. We see a shirtless man and his bare abdomen and chest are visible. A man's shirt is shown unbuttoned and we see a portion of his bare chest and abdomen. A woman sits on a toilet in a public restroom (presumably urinating) and we see her bare thighs.
► A man and a woman kiss while she is seated on a desk and her legs are wrapped around his shoulders. A woman kisses another woman after they argue bitterly. A man and a woman kiss. A man kisses a woman, and then kisses her neck and chest; he asks her to have sex with him and she declines. A woman caresses a man's hair and they kiss. A husband and his wife kiss while dancing. A man and a woman kiss. A man kisses bruises on another man's face, sits on his lap and thrusts on his leg in a mocking manner. A man and a woman dance seductively together in a night club and we see them caressing each other and thrusting their hips toward each other and they kiss.
► A man's wife sits on another man's lap and they talk flirtatiously. A man caresses a woman's clothed buttocks and she caresses his face; they come very close to kissing and he pulls away abruptly. A clothed woman is shown on her hands and knees on a desk as a man spanks her clothed buttocks. A man and a woman dance. A married woman goes to lunch with another man and he flirts with her; they hold hands across the table and he caresses her thigh. A man searches a woman before a meeting and we see his hands up her skirt (her bare thighs are visible).
► A man makes a remark to another man about a woman and he says, "We never had sex." A man says of another man's girlfriend, "I never laid a hand on her" and the woman replies "that's not technically true." A woman says that dancing in a strip club "could feel sexy sometimes."

VIOLENCE/GORE 4 - A man is described as being a hit man who would "leave a body in the street, and never bury it" as we see him shooting another man in the head a few times. A man holds another man at gunpoint. Two men hold guns on each other.
► A man hits another man in the head and face with a telephone several times and we see the man later with a bandage on his eye and bruising on his face. A woman hits a man in the head with a framed picture and the glass breaks (we se the man with a bloody cut on his forehead). Two men are shown in a car with two men identified as being in the Mafia; one man is show with a bag over his head and with a gun held to his head and then with his tie being pulled around his throat (the two men are released unharmed). A man hits and kicks another man (we see his nose bloodied). A man threatens to beat another man. We see a man with a bandage over his eye and a bruise on the other side of his face; he says that another man "threatened to kill me."
► A man collapses on a sidewalk and a woman helps him to stand up and gets him into a car where he takes a heart pill. We see a woman wearing a neck brace and she makes a remark about the car implying that she had a car accident. We see a woman with a sunburn on her face from a sun lamp.
► A woman is handcuffed and arrested for fraud. We see several men being arrested and a voiceover describes their crimes, including larceny.
► A woman puts a foil container in a microwave and it blows up (we see flames and char on a cabinet later). A man messes up another man's hairpiece and a woman attempts to put it back in place. A pre-teen boy is shown throwing rocks and hockey pucks through many store front windows and we see the glass shatter (he talks about his father being in the window business).
► A woman shoves a man and yells at him. Two women argue bitterly in a bar and then in a restroom. A man yells over the telephone at his boss in a couple of scenes. A husband and his wife argue bitterly in several scenes; during one argument we hear that the woman caused a fire by using a sun lamp. Two men argue about a woman. Two men argue. A woman asks her husband for a divorce. A remark is made about not wanting "Arabs to make money."
► A woman sits on a toilet in a public restroom (presumably urinating.

LANGUAGE 10 - About 94 F-words and its derivatives, 3 sexual references, 29 scatological terms, 6 anatomical terms, 8 mild obscenities, name-calling (stupid, liars, rascal, sick, punk, boring, gross, mean, party pooper, wacko), a young boy calls his adoptive father a sick [mild obscenity deleted] after hearing his mother use the same phrase, exclamations (shut-up), 4 religious profanities (GD), 18 religious exclamations (e.g. Jesus Christ, Oh God, God, Thank God, For God's Sake, For Christ's Sake, Oh My God).

SUBSTANCE USE - A man snorts something from his hand, and a man takes a pill in a couple of scenes (presumably for his heart). People are shown drinking wine, people in a nightclub are shown drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes, people are shown with drinks in their hands at a pool party, people drink wine and some cigarettes in a few scenes, people drink alcohol at a party and make a toast, men are shown smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol, a woman drinks alcohol at a bar and her husband tells her to stop, people are shown drinking champagne, and people drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes in an office celebration. People are shown smoking cigarettes in several scenes in homes and offices and restaurants, a man smokes a cigar in several scenes, and we see an ashtray filled with cigarette butts.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Sting operations, infidelity, bad choices, survival, comb overs, hairpieces, interest rates, embezzlement, Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon, confidence, greed, power, asylum, heartbreak, Vietnam, sorrow, bribery of government officials, entrapment, racism, microwave ovens, politics, truth, depression, unions, anxiety, loan sharking, disrespect, power of intention, reinventing your life, the Mafia.

MESSAGE - People will believe what they want to believe.