Uncut Gems Review (1/1/2020)

Here’s a fun fact: I hate Adam Sandler movies. In my eyes, his work is consistently among the worst, most appallingly lazy and unimaginative “comedy” out there. Even his classics, such as Happy Gilmore, I’m not a fan of, and from there he’s gotten much, much worse. 

There’s something about Adam Sandler that makes him somewhat of an anomaly regarding bad comedians, however. Every once in a blue moon the stars align perfectly and Adam Sandler is in a good movie. Not just a decent one, but a good one. Uncut Gems is one of those films.

Like Punch Drunk Love before it, Uncut Gems is an indie darling that came seemingly out of nowhere with a role that’s both completely unlike normal Sandler fair and also entirely appropriate. But while Punch Drunk Love took a sympathetic look at Adam Sandler’s typecast archetype, Uncut Gems takes a far more critical stance. Amplifying the rage and immaturity that Sandler normally plays for laughs, Uncut Gems sees him square in the middle of a dark and blackly comic yet profoundly serious character drama focused around one of the most flawed and difficult to like protagonists of 2019.

It’d be easy for Uncut Gems to be just as unlikeable as its protagonist, yet there’s something that’s still endlessly fun to watch about the whole thing. The protagonist, Howard Ratner, is a jewelry dealer and a gambler to his very core. He’s the human id personified; a man slave to his own impulses, living in day to day excitement but also ruining practically everything he touches. He borrows money from criminals, and instead of paying them back continues to gamble it away. He switches between holding a barely-concealed extramarital affair and trying to mend the impassable gap between himself and his wife. He’s a pathetic, almost unbearably irritating human being who you almost feel sorry for at times, if it weren’t for the fact that everything bad that happens to him is entirely his fault. Yet there’s something real about him that’s self-evident; everyone knows someone like Howard, and Uncut Gems lets us take these baffling individuals and study them from a distance, to understand just what compels people to become like this, and that keeps you engaged and invested in the film even at its protagonist’s most insufferable moments.

Naturally, Uncut Gems is the story of a downward spiral, and no amount of dark humor can make this a pleasant watch. It’s not disturbing per say, but it’s an extremely stressful experience, as Howard digs himself into multiple pits at once and, instead of working to get out of them, continues to dig them deeper through glaringly irresponsible decision making. The stakes get higher, the people he angers get more dangerous, and there are multiple scenes that feature multiple threads falling apart all at once, and Howard faces multiple crises simultaneously, and even the audience starts to get overwhelmed. If I were in any of these situations, I’d have a breakdown there and then, yet Howard seems to thrive off of it in some strange, self-destructive way.

That final point is the key takeaway for me that more or less salvages the film’s final act. I don’t want to spoil the ending, but the tone of the film does somewhat of a heelspin. It’s a bit too quick to really work, and the final act feels rather hollow and simplistic as a result, yet throughout the whole thing, the central character stays consistent, and thus the core of the experience survives. I still think it could have been done better – and one character in particular is done super dirty by this ending – but it doesn’t ruin the film.

Uncut Gems is held together by its performances and writing. Written and directed by Benny and Josh Safdie, the script nimbly maneuvers its way into a convoluted web of crises spun by one man’s mind-numbing stupidity with ease and grace, selling the darker bits while giving the story and characters a unique sense of personality through its dry sense of wit. The interactions between characters feel incredibly natural, and the dialogue helps impeccably establishes an immersive sense of place and tone. Even the films more ludicrous plot points – of which there are many, including a major plot thread involving Basketball star Kevin Garnett, played by himself – fit smoothly into place. Adam Sandler is a revelation in the lead role, completely disappearing into the character beyond recognition. This is quite possibly the best performance of his entire career, and while I don’t think it’s likely, he definitely could get nominated for an Oscar and deserve it. The supporting cast is good as well - particularly Sorry to Bother You’s Lakeith Stanfield – but it’s mostly Sandler’s show here. All of it is held together by deft direction from the Safdie brothers, bringing a chaotic energy to the plot that heightens the tension exponentially, while still keeping the viewer engrossed and invested.

Overall, despite a decidedly lackluster final act, Uncut Gems is a darkly comic and chaotic thriller, bringing a rough, unpolished grit to the Oscar season that was lacking up to this point. It’s definitely worth a watch, and manages to perfectly live up to its name. As a vocal Adam Sandler anti-fan, I’m pleased to say that this point goes to him.