With great interest, I went to see the new movie Uncut Gems starring Adam Sandler. Note I didn’t say “new Adam Sandler” movie since that would imply a dopey comedy, probably set in some impossibly beautiful location, and co-starring a bunch of his buddies. No, this is a Safdie Brothers film – the indie directing duo also responsible for the surprisingly good movie Good Time. That movie starred Robert Pattinson in an attempt to remind us he’s not just the vampire from the Twilight movies. And Uncut Gems is here to remind us that, despite a lot of evidence, Adam Sandler can also be a good actor (as previously evidenced by Punch Drunk Love and Reign Over Me).
So Uncut Gems stars Sandler as a New York jeweler catering to wealthy celebrities. He’s deeply in debt, a bit of a con-man, and a gambling addict. He’s constantly on the hustle for new ways to pawn items he doesn’t own, sell items he doesn’t have, and place bets with money he should be using to pay off debts. He’s a real sleaze-bag but he’s also the protagonist and there’s enough charm in Sandler’s performance that we wind up rooting for him. Or at least hoping his latest bonehead scheme doesn’t get him killed.
The title of the movie refers to a rock embedded with many gems that he hopes to sell at auction. But he unwisely shows it to a celebrity customer – real-life NBA player Kevin Garnett (playing himself) – who wants to borrow it for luck in tonight’s game. In exchange, Garnett hands over his NBA ring which Sandler promptly pawns for cash that we think he’s going to use to pay off some debts. But instead he places a bet on Garnett’s game in order to make enough money to get the ring out of hock, pay some debts, and probably place more bets. Things don’t go as planned.
So this movie lives and breathes on whether or not Sandler can pull this off. And he can. He’s very good at playing this broken, desperate huckster who will attempt to talk and lie himself out of any situation. He’s kind of a low-life but he’s also reasonably charming and you can see that he just wants to get his without hurting anyone. It’s a pretty delicate bit of acting and he pulls it off. I’m genuinely surprised. Though there is one scene where he has an emotional breakdown that he doesn’t really pull off. But otherwise… good work.
The film is also pretty remarkable in the way it’s shot, edited, and sound mixed. There’s so much controlled chaos of multiple overlapping dialog, subplots, and general cacophony. It’s a great job of keeping a bunch of plates spinning and making sure it all makes sense and can be tracked by the audience. It also adds just this immense amount of tension as the screws keep getting turned on this man’s life (or how he turns the screws on himself).
Also of note, Kevin Garnett – who I know nothing about – is surprisingly good at not just playing himself, kind of playing a bad version of himself. He’s joined by a brief cameo by The Weeknd who Sandler fights which made me laugh. Idina Menzel from Frozen plays Sandler’s very New York wife while newcomer Julia Fox plays his girlfriend. Both are good but Fox turns in a star making performance. This is apparently her first film.
I really loved this film. It’s full of suspense, humor, drama, and even a little romance. I know Adam Sandler can act and I know every time he tries to go out of his comfort zone, those movies fail to make any money so he goes back to goofball mode. I suspect this movie will do better than previous attempts (based on the size of the audience I was with) but it probably won’t be enough. which is a shame since this is a damn good movie.
Score: 88