Uncut Gems
(A24)
By Lucas Allen
Though primarily known for his outrageous comedies, Adam Sandler had previously dipped his toes into more serious fare in films like “Punch Drunk Love” and “Spanglish.” In his new drama, “Uncut Gems,” he finally dives into a fully unhinged and powerful performance that has already earned him lots of awards buzz. In fact, he gets a lot of help from rising writers/directors Benny and Josh Safdie, along with executive producer Martin Scorsese.
Howard Ratner (Sandler) lives a busy-yet-harrowing lifestyle in New York City. Despite being a successful jeweler for some celebrities, he has a knack for gambling and keeps running into small-time debt collectors for the mob. He also keeps a secret love affair with his secretary Julia (newcomer Julia Fox) from his wife Dinah (Frozen’s Idina Menzel).
One day, he gets a package containing a special uncut gem from Ethiopia called a Welo opal that he plans to sell in an upcoming auction. When he shows it to Kevin Garnett of the Boston Celtics (playing himself), the Celtic center becomes enamored by the gem and asks to borrow it for a game that night.
But when Garnett doesn’t return the opal, Howard’s life turns into a psychological downward spiral. His relationships, including his friendship with assistant Demany (LaKeith Stanfield), start to fall apart, though he still keeps in touch with his father, Gooey (Judd Hirsch). Worse of all, his debt collecting pals are getting aggressive when needing the money that he owes them. Howard doesn’t know how to get out of it all unless he makes the ultimate bet to save his skin.
Right from the start, the movie isn’t pulling any punches when telling the story. You’re smacked right into the middle of the main character’s busy life on the job and his personal life like watching a documentary happening live before your eyes. If you can understand the dialogue, listening to these characters helps follow along what’s going on.
The story is basically about an uncaring man in an uncaring world, which might be a turn-off to the general audiences. However, the filmmakers do a great job to try to humanize Howard’s difficult personality especially when he’s going through some rough situations. All throughout, you find yourself rooting for him to try to do the right thing no matter how intense things get. There are genuine feelings of regret and despair you feel through the character that adds to the emotional drama near the end.
The movie has a combination of different subgenres, like mob thriller, family drama and sports drama. Without feeling like a messy mashup, the directors achieve the difficult balancing act of making the genres mesh with one another to create an interestingly well-told tale. The sports drama aspect mainly takes over the last act that’s just as thrilling as watching any real basketball game.
Sandler may be known for playing man-children in the past, but here he’s able to refine it enough to make a more serious role. He’s very believable and quite good that it may hard to see his older comedies the same way again. Garnett surprisingly has the acting chops at not just playing himself, but also skewering on his career with the Celtics, and he’s very natural in his scenes with Sandler. Menzel successfully sheds her Broadway/Disney persona as an emotionally battered wife, while Fox becomes the breakout star in a fierce performance.
“Uncut Gems” will surely surprise Sandler fans in a big way and come out of it hoping he does more serious roles beyond his usual comedic style. It’s certainly unusual as a mainstream motion picture made by up-and-coming filmmakers, but that’s why it becomes something special in a winter season packed with family-friendly choices.
THE MOVIE’S RATING: R (for pervasive strong language, violence, some sexual content, and brief drug use)
THE CRITIC’S RATING: 3.75 Stars (Out of Four)
