Amsterdam

Filmed in Los Angeles from January to March 2021, it is Russell’s first film since Joy (2015). Amsterdam was released in the United States on October 7, 2022, by 20th Century Studios. The film received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics, who criticized Russell’s screenplay and direction, as well as the lack of chemistry between Robbie and Washington. It was also a box-office bomb, with estimated losses for the studio of over $100 million.

After the end of the war, the three live together in Amsterdam and become close friends until Burt returns to New York City to be with his wife. Harold has fallen in love with Valerie and begun a tenuous romantic relationship with her. But Valerie abandons Harold, so he returns to New York.

Fifteen years later, Burt has opened his medical practice catering to veterans of the war, and remains friends with Harold, who is now a lawyer. However, they have not heard from Valerie since they left Amsterdam. Harold asks Burt to perform an autopsy on Bill Meekins (a senator who served as the commander of their regiment during the war) at the behest of Meekins’ daughter Elizabeth, who believes that he was murdered during his recent trip to Europe. Burt performs the autopsy with the help of medical examiner Irma St. Clair. The autopsy reveals a considerable amount of poison in Meekins’ stomach; Burt and Irma theorize that this must have been his cause of death. Burt and Harold meet with Elizabeth to talk about the autopsy results, though she is suddenly killed when a hitman pushes her into traffic. The hitman frames Burt and Harold for her death, and they flee as the police arrive.

Burt and Harold attempt to find out who told Elizabeth to hire them in order to clear their names. This leads them to wealthy textile heir, Tom Voze, his patronizing wife Libby, and Tom’s sister, Valerie (whose real surname is Voze). They learn that Valerie was the one who convinced Elizabeth to hire them, knowing that they were trustworthy. Valerie is under constant supervision by Tom and Libby, who claim that she suffers from a nerve disease and epilepsy. It is later revealed that they were poisoning Valerie to keep her compliant. Burt and Harold talk with Tom, who suggests they talk to General Gil Dillenbeck, a famous and decorated veteran who is friends with Meekins, to learn who accompanied Meekins on the trip (and might have poisoned him or be able to lead them to the person who did).

While Burt attempts to contact the General, Irma visits him at his medical practice and reveals that she was attacked and her wrist broken while trying to bring him the autopsy report and the attacker took the paper from her. After resetting her wrist, Burt and Irma share a kiss. Meanwhile, Harold and Valerie spend the day at her home, where they notice the hitman, Tarim Milfax, has been watching the house. They follow him to a forced sterilization clinic owned by a mysterious organization known as the “Committee of the Five”. After a fight with Milfax, Harold and Valerie reunite with Burt. Valerie takes them to the Waldorf Astoria New York, where they meet Paul Canterbury and Henry Norcross, Valerie’s benefactors from Amsterdam who are secretly spies in the intelligence community. Paul and Henry explain that the Committee of the Five is a cabal in the US with ties to Germany planning to overthrow the American government and that Dillenbeck can help foil their plot.

The trio meets with General Dillenbeck, who is offered a large sum of money from a man on behalf of an unnamed benefactor to deliver a speech advocating for veterans to forcibly remove U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and install Dillenbeck as a puppet dictator instead. The General agrees to help the trio foil the plot and agrees to speak at a veterans reunion gala Burt and Harold are hosting in order to draw out whoever is behind the plot.

At the gala, General Dillenbeck reads his speech instead of the one he was paid to read. Milfax tries to shoot him for doing so, but Harold and Valerie and then Burt manage to stop him in time. Milfax is arrested and the Committee of the Five is revealed to be four industry leaders, including Tom, who is fanatically obsessed with Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler, and intend to turn the United States into a fascist country.

Tom and the other leaders are arrested by the police, but they do not stay in jail long, and slander General Dillenbeck in the press following their release. General Dillenbeck testifies about the incident to Congress and returns home to live out his life. Harold and Valerie leave the country since they cannot be together in the United States. Burt wishes them farewell, planning to reopen his medical practice and pursue a relationship with Irma.