Film Review: 'Uncut Gems'
- Cizonite
- Feb 5, 2020
- 4 min read
Updated: Feb 5, 2020
A Netflix Film brought to you by Adam Sandler. Doesn't that sound strikingly familiar and aggressively terrible?
But that's not the case with ‘Uncut Gems’, a manically entertaining thrill-ride from start to finish, led by a mesmerizing Adam Sandler turn for the ages. You won't want to add this to your ‘Watch Later’; Watch It Now.
The Story
In the film, Adam Sandler plays Howard Ratner, a wriggling, cheating, bribing, lying and effusively gambling Diamond District dealer. When Howard receives a black opal (a glittering rock) from the Webo (that's wee-bo, not we-bu) mine in Africa, one that he believes could wring in $1 million dollars, his life changes, creating a disastrous chain of events, set to the backdrop that is the 2012 NBA playoffs series between Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtic.
True to form, the film is 2 hours of Howard flustering as he wriggles, cheats, bribes, lies, and most importantly gambles his way out of mountainous debts from basically everyone, ranging from small-time collectors, notorious loan sharks to Kevin Garnett, Celtics' All-Star and a pretty good actor for all it's worth. It's a 135-minute panic attack, is what I mean.
The Direction
Uncut Gems is produced by A24, probably the most auteur-driven studio out there despite Disney's insistence, and is directed by the Safdie Brothers, two filmmakers hell-bent on creating films that would pop the veins in your forehead, as evident by their previous offerings such as Daddy Longlegs and, more prominently, Good Time. Good Time, in particular, was a snippet of what they could do, given the talent (Robert Pattinson) and surefire confidence, albeit with an impressively economic budget ($2 million).
Uncut Gems has introduced the brothers to the world and opened them to much more, as Benny and Josh practically shows off their immense talents, with adrenaline editing that never feels hectic, headache inducing or misplaced; clearly improved shot selections through budget, allowing for longer takes and more extravagant locales; and a script dripping with a manic energy, anchored by Adam Sandler's magnetic performance and delivery.
Their signature "close-up, in your face" style of direction works so well here, I would vote for it to be termed “Safdie-esque". It amazes how much they could keep track and make sense of a scene so marred by crossing dialogues, as if the audience is experiencing a real-life situation with real people. The way the characters interact with one another: unfinished dialogues, scattered insults, make-shift retorts,... they don't finish sentences, ever, yet we understand what they're thinking and what they're planning to do, because they are us.
I am more than excited for their future projects, and can’t wait for the Coens-in-the-making to team up with even more talented actors. Jim Carrey up for a Renaissance?
Adam Sandler
Adam Sandler is a tale of three men: “Good Sandler", “Still Caring Sandler", and “Bad Sandler". And it's abundantly clear which he would prefer to be; let's see if you can spot it. (1) The serious, talented actor excited at working with renown auteurs, i.e. Punch Drunk Love, Reign Over Me, Funny People, Meyerowitz Stories. (all of which I highly recommend)
(2) The funny, earnest actor who cared and tried his utter best to entertain and move his audience, i.e. The Wedding Singer, Click, (to a lesser extent) 50 First Dates, The Longest Yard.
No prizes for guessing correctly.
“Still Caring Sandler” died a long time ago: mediocrity and effort do not go well with each other. Most of the time, 41 films to be exact, “Bad Sandler" would get himself a nice vacation, as made oh-ever-so-blatant in Grown Ups and Murder Mystery. After all, when you excel at doing something bad for so long, it most certainly has to pay well: for all he knows, Netflix basically handed him and his Happy Madison Productions $250 million dollars to do exactly what he's been doing for 20 years: coasting through mediocre, sometimes downright awful, movies with exciting ensembles and his reputation, tainted as it might be in recent years.
But every once in a blue moon, “Good Sandler” would showcase the acting arsenal that once had Hollywood at his feet: screaming under Paul Thomas Anderson; screaming but it's 9/11; screaming but it's himself under Judd Apatow.
And thankfully enough, he is good enough to realize that opportunity in Uncut Gems. The film lives and dies with his performance as Howard: In other, less palpable actors' hands, Howard would have come off as downright despicable. But with Sandler, it was perfect casting, with his charisma and pent-up likeability from past films, way past films I might add, helping the Safdie Brothers get away with a simply vile protagonist, creating a crazed relateability between the audience and Howard's unending rollercoaster to his “win big" aspirations. We feel for Howard's desperation and false-highs, and we root for him ‘til the film's darkly comedic end.
Sandler should have gotten his well-deserved nomination here, and it is a shame that after the snub, he’ll most probably go back to “what the audience love”, as Netflix so elegantly put it.
Oh, and the “Into The Unknown" lady was good too.
Overall: A+
I'm just glad “Good Sandler" comes out once in a while: it restores my hope in humanity and bodes well for Netflix's inconsistency.
One of 2019's finest films, I highly recommend this film for NBA fans, Adam Sandler fans, coma-induced patients and Frozen fanatics, because you should probably know what Adele Dazeem looks like.
Available on Netflix.
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