Christian Bale, Margot Robbie and John David Washington in a scene from “Amsterdam.”

Writer/director David O. Russell had every opportunity to make his latest film shine. Instead, what we get is a film clouded with uneven pacing, heavy-handed exposition and plotting, confusing direction and flat performances that bloat the finished product. It’s a painful slog to the finish. What O. Russell could have had was a wonderfully funny, well-acted, poignant period dramedy highlighting class and race disparities post-World War I as well as the emergence of fascism in the 1930s and its ties to the U.S. Instead, he bungles it at every turn. “Amsterdam” is filled with some of the finest actors working today: Christian Bale, John David Washington, Margot Robbie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Rock, Rami Malek, Zoe Saldana, even Robert freaking De Niro, yet every single performer is plagued with having to deliver clunky, exposition-filled dialogue that leaves nothing to the imagination and is delivered with all the charisma of a newly found community theater actor. There are only two performances that were remotely interesting, most likely because they’re not in the film very long: Michael Shannon and Mike Myers’ portrayals of American and British intelligence agents, respectively. But even they fall victim to O. Russell’s wandering film. The film follows best friends and war buddies Burt (Bale) and Harold (Washington). Burt is a scrappy doctor who works just outside of legality to help other vets and tries to find a decent pain regimen to help him with his aggravating ailments from battle. Harold is a brilliant lawyer who also works to help the vets and his Black neighbors wherever and however he can. When they’re called to investigate the mysterious death of their old commander (Ed Begley Jr.), they’re then framed for the murder of said commander’s socialite daughter (Taylor Swift). Soon, they are thrown back in with the third member of their besties circle from their days in the war and their time taken up in Amsterdam, artistic and bold socialite Valerie (Robbie), who teams up with them to help solve the murder, the death and something much bigger and sinister waiting in the wings. The script has the nasty habit of telling us what’s going on and what’s about to happen, then repeating what just happened even though we as an audience had already seen/heard about it. There’s also a deluge of flashbacks and voiceovers, diluting the overall effect of the film and wrecking the pacing. One flashback in particular is entirely unnecessary and could’ve simply played out as it was happening instead of cutting to another scene and then having it retold later (again in the most obvious way possible). The worst, most frustrating part about “Amsterdam” is being able to see its potential in every scene. We have the actors, the interesting semi-true story, the high production value, the luscious costumes and sets, allusions to our modern-day socio-political situations and then … nothing comes of any of it. There are moments that you can feel like O. Russell and company have finally clicked all the elements into place and everything might finally gel, but it never does, and you’re left waiting for the credits to roll. Because you know what’s going to happen, nothing about the supposed twist is at all mysterious or shrouded from us, partly due to simple casting but mostly the way O. Russell chooses to tell this story. The dialogue is predictable and meandering, the acting is wooden, and certain actors are wasted in the background (specifically Timothy Olyphant and Rock). It seems the only note given to most of them was to make sure their eyes were open as wide as they could be. “Amsterdam” could have been a ripping story with a strong, satirical bite, but the whole film drags in its seemingly rudderless journey to the end. On screens this week: In theaters and on Peacock, Laurie Strode and Michael Myers finally finish things in “Halloween Ends.” Streaming on Hulu is the story of jilted never-seen-but-often-referenced Shakespearian match “Rosaline,” and on Wednesday you can catch director Paul Feig’s YA fantasy “The School for Good and Evil” on Netflix.

Writer/director David O. Russell had every opportunity to make his latest film shine. Instead, what we get is a film clouded with uneven pacing, heavy-handed exposition and plotting, confusing direction and flat performances that bloat the finished product.

It’s a painful slog to the finish.

What O. Russell could have had was a wonderfully funny, well-acted, poignant period dramedy highlighting class and race disparities post-World War I as well as the emergence of fascism in the 1930s and its ties to the U.S. Instead, he bungles it at every turn.

“Amsterdam” is filled with some of the finest actors working today: Christian Bale, John David Washington, Margot Robbie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Rock, Rami Malek, Zoe Saldana, even Robert freaking De Niro, yet every single performer is plagued with having to deliver clunky, exposition-filled dialogue that leaves nothing to the imagination and is delivered with all the charisma of a newly found community theater actor.

There are only two performances that were remotely interesting, most likely because they’re not in the film very long: Michael Shannon and Mike Myers’ portrayals of American and British intelligence agents, respectively. But even they fall victim to O. Russell’s wandering film.

The film follows best friends and war buddies Burt (Bale) and Harold (Washington). Burt is a scrappy doctor who works just outside of legality to help other vets and tries to find a decent pain regimen to help him with his aggravating ailments from battle. Harold is a brilliant lawyer who also works to help the vets and his Black neighbors wherever and however he can.

When they’re called to investigate the mysterious death of their old commander (Ed Begley Jr.), they’re then framed for the murder of said commander’s socialite daughter (Taylor Swift).

Soon, they are thrown back in with the third member of their besties circle from their days in the war and their time taken up in Amsterdam, artistic and bold socialite Valerie (Robbie), who teams up with them to help solve the murder, the death and something much bigger and sinister waiting in the wings.

The script has the nasty habit of telling us what’s going on and what’s about to happen, then repeating what just happened even though we as an audience had already seen/heard about it. There’s also a deluge of flashbacks and voiceovers, diluting the overall effect of the film and wrecking the pacing. One flashback in particular is entirely unnecessary and could’ve simply played out as it was happening instead of cutting to another scene and then having it retold later (again in the most obvious way possible).

The worst, most frustrating part about “Amsterdam” is being able to see its potential in every scene. We have the actors, the interesting semi-true story, the high production value, the luscious costumes and sets, allusions to our modern-day socio-political situations and then … nothing comes of any of it.

There are moments that you can feel like O. Russell and company have finally clicked all the elements into place and everything might finally gel, but it never does, and you’re left waiting for the credits to roll. Because you know what’s going to happen, nothing about the supposed twist is at all mysterious or shrouded from us, partly due to simple casting but mostly the way O. Russell chooses to tell this story.

The dialogue is predictable and meandering, the acting is wooden, and certain actors are wasted in the background (specifically Timothy Olyphant and Rock). It seems the only note given to most of them was to make sure their eyes were open as wide as they could be.

“Amsterdam” could have been a ripping story with a strong, satirical bite, but the whole film drags in its seemingly rudderless journey to the end.

On screens this week: In theaters and on Peacock, Laurie Strode and Michael Myers finally finish things in “Halloween Ends.” Streaming on Hulu is the story of jilted never-seen-but-often-referenced Shakespearian match “Rosaline,” and on Wednesday you can catch director Paul Feig’s YA fantasy “The School for Good and Evil” on Netflix.

“Amsterdam”

134 minutes

Rated R for brief violence and bloody images

2 stars