Uncut Gems (2019)
Directed by The Safdie Brothers
Written by The Safdie Brothers
Starring Adam Sandler, Kevin Garnett, Eric Bogosian
Release Date December 13th, 2019
Published December 10th, 2019
I am not a fan of the work of Adam Sandler. I find Sandler’s brand of lowbrow comedy to be like the proverbial nails on a chalkboard. Sandler has made movies so terrible that they still haunt my nightmares, Jack and Jill. This is all to say that when I hear Adam Sandler is starring in a movie, I assume the worst and look to avoid it, something that Sandler’s deal with Netflix has made easier for me as a critic of theatrical features.
So it was with great trepidation that I approached Adam Sandler’s new movie, Uncut Gems. On the one hand, reviews for this drama from indie darling filmmakers, Josh and Benny Safdie, have been phenomenal. On the other hand… it’s Sandler, I have a right to my cynicism. What a surprise then to find that not only is Sandler not blindingly terrible in Uncut Gems, he may be downright Oscar-worthy.
Uncut Gems stars Adam Sandler as Howard Ratner, a high end, New York City jewelry store owner whose life moves at a rapid and relentless clip. Howard is in debt to everyone because he can’t resist getting to the next big score. This could be a piece of high end jewelry or a big bet parlay on a sporting event. Whatever that next big thing is, Howard is drawn to it like a moth to a flame, only even more flammable.
Howard’s latest big score is an uncut gem that he’s acquired through nefarious means. The gem was stolen from a diamond mine in Ethiopia where the diamond trade is a literally cutthroat business at times. Somehow, Howard convinced some locals to give him the uncut gem for an insanely low price and smuggle it to him at the penalty of their own death had they been caught. For them, they stand to gain a couple thousand dollars. Howard, however, believes the gem is worth more than a million.
Howard being Howard however, he can’t resist risking his big new investment. First he decides to show it off when NBA star Kevin Garnett drops by his store. Then, out of ungodly hubris, he let’s KG take the gem for a night while Howard holds and subsequently, secretly pawn’s KG’s NBA championship ring. Howard takes that money and bets it on a parlay, a three prong wager on KG’s scoring, rebounding and the Celtics winning.
That’s just the furious first act of Uncut Gems which roils and simmers and boils with plot developments, rarely slowing to catch a breath.
After years of selling short his own talent, Adam Sandler has found the role of a lifetime in Howard. The character is a perfect distillation of the best of Sandler’s manic, angry, energy. Usually, Sandler is as boring and listless as his moves are tasteless and unfunny. Here, however, with a pair of visionary directors at the helm and a juicy character to play, Sandler is violently alive with energy and excitement shooting from his eyeballs.
This is a tour de force performance made all the more impressive for lack of strong supporting performances. That’s not a knock on Lakeith Stanfield, Idina Menzel or Julia Fox who make up the top supporting players in this story, they appear to be intentionally underwritten and portrayed specifically to act as bounders for Sandler’s pinball performance. Arguably, the most impactful supporting performance from basketball legend Kevin Garnett whose growing obsession with the gem nearly matches Howard’s.
Uncut Gems was written and directed by the Safdie Brothers, Josh and Benny. The Safdies became the darlings of the indie film world with their 2017 crime drama Good Time. I found Good Time to be visually dynamic but too repetitive. But, like Uncut Gems, that Good Time hummed with life and energy. The Safdie’s are really great at building tension in their narrative and not allowing that tension to ease until the very end.
In Uncut Gems that is an absolutely perfect approach. The ending of Uncut Gems is breathtakingly on point. There is no other way for this movie to end and the ending is a gut shot. I won’t spoil anything of the ending, just give yourself over to the high intensity of Sandler and the low, simmering, violent rage of his nemesis, Arno, magnificently played in small bursts by Eric Bogosian, and you too will find this ending to be one of incredibly powerful catharsis. To say more is to say too much.
Uncut Gems is extraordinary.
