Uncut Gems
Release year: 2019
My Rating: ★★★★½ out of 5
Tagline: This is how I win.
Synopsis: A charismatic New York City jeweler always on the lookout for the next big score makes a series of high-stakes bets that could lead to the windfall of a lifetime. Howard must perform a precarious high-wire act, balancing business, family, and encroaching adversaries on all sides in his relentless pursuit of the ultimate win.
This is it. The moment so many people point to as their moment where they realized "Oh, Adam Sandler is a really good actor". Not like a good actor, but a fantastic actor. The stipulation of course is when he actually wants to. And who knows, maybe it was making over a decade of mediocre to bad movies that made him realize that he wanted to be seen, respected.
I'll start this off by saying, this is a fantastic movie, but not one I really enjoy all that much. That is definitely the point. Seeing a truly terrible man's lies make him fall into a deeper and deeper hole. And when he does succeed at the one thing he cared about most, it doesn't matter. Probably the best anti-gambling PSA you could watch. I won’t say much more since I highly recommend a watch. Can’t say you’ll come out happy though!
Sandler is so great in this. He fits into this greasy schemer role so well. Hey, you can't say that Sandler isn't good at getting people to hate him. Just every moment he is onscreen makes you hate him more and more. You know it's him, but still you get lost in what he makes out of his character. There's so much more to him here than him saying, "Holy shit, I'm gonna cum", even if maybe that'll get you onboard from the start.
I think we are reaching the point in Adam Sandler's career where he starts to think about his legacy a lot more. Of course he's not going to leave behind what he is always has been (check his next movie), but I think he probably wanted to show people the talent he's always had. And when you start to look at his full career, movies great and terrible, history back to SNL, stand-up, and so much more, you might notice there is a reason to Sandler's success beyond making trashy movies.
It took until this movie for me become a really big Adam Sandler fan. That doesn't even mean I enjoyed the movie all that much. I think it was just what it finally took for me to finally feel like I understand Sandler. Sure, he has many, many talents, but that doesn't mean he has to use them. If he enjoys to make, sure, pretty terrible movies a lot of the time, but he has fun doing it, what is the harm? Why can't someone like him be more celebrated for doing what he loves and trying to make him, his friends, and his audience laugh. And it definitely works, otherwise his career would have declined over time.
But it took a movie that people respect, to finally respect him. It's a triumph and sad in a way. Why couldn't people respect him for being so good at making movies that appeal to such a wide audience? A 30 year career up to Uncut Gems with so many beloved movies. Happy Gilmore, Big Daddy, Billy Madison, 50 First Dates, Punch Drunk Love, Little Nicky, The Waterboy, The Wedding Singer, Grown Ups, Hotel Transylvania, and even I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. I have heard someone say they love each of these movies. And add Uncut Gems to the list. Honestly the real struggle is finding a Sandler movie that someone doesn't really enjoy. They can make us laugh, they often feel safe, they are comfortable.
Maybe Sandlerfest started as pushing through the "pain" of watching every Adam Sandler movie, but I think for me it turned into a celebration of his career, warts and all.
Still can't forgive him for consistently teaming up with Rob Schneider though.
