8.5 out of 10
**WARNING-MINOR SPOILERS**
If you were to tell me if Adam Sandler could be a serious actor when he wants to. I would’ve shrugged it off since he’s mostly starred in so many stinkers like Jack and Jill and Pixels. When I saw the first trailer for Uncut Gems, I was intrigued by what I saw. Adam Sandler looked like he actually gave a crap about this role they were teasing. Also learning that it was written and directed by The Safdie Brothers of the underrated gem, Good Time, made me even more excited for this film. After finally seeing this film, I can say that I had a good time with this film and that so many people are going to hate this film for the reasons that I really liked it.
As mentioned before, Uncut Gems was directed by The Safdie Brothers and stars Adam Sandler as Howard Ratner, a Jewelry hustler who owns a Jewelry Shop on New York’s Diamond District. Howard is a huge gambling addict and uses loan money from loan sharks to try and make huge profits through betting on Basketball games, mainly the Boston Celtics (keep in mind this takes place in 2012, so Kevin Garnett was still playing at the time.). Howard obtains a rare Uncut -Ethiopian Opal and plans to sell it in a huge auction as he estimates it is worth $1 Million, in order to pay off his debts to the loan sharks as they have been starting to threaten him for not paying them back on time. Through an employee of Howard, Demany (Lakeith Stanfield), Howard gets to meet with Kevin Garnett (himself) as a customer. Though initially disappointed, KG is shown the Opal by Howard and is so entranced by it that he begs Howard to let him borrow the gem even though Howard is trying to auction it off. Howard reluctantly agrees and is given one of KG’s Championship Rings as Collateral until KG gives the uncut gem back. What follows Howard later on is a series of unfortunate events that leaves him in the dust for most of the movie after he takes KG’s Ring and sells it at a pawn shop in order use the money and gamble once again, which eventually leads Howard towards a confrontation with his brother-in-law, who is also a huge loan shark. It also is worthy to note that Howard is a father to three children and married to a beautiful wife (Idina Menzel), and he is constantly cheating on his whole family by being with a mistress (Julia Fox) that cares about him dearly. The film follows Howard as he struggles to find a way to pay off his debts to many loan sharks, including his own Brother-in-Law (Eric Bogosian) and get his Opal back from KG in order to auction it off.
Howard Ratner is a character that will be easily loathed by so many people, he constantly screws up, he cheats on his wife and family, he makes so many stupid decisions like gambling loaned money, and he is essentially a total loser. Yes, Ratner is a character to be hated on, but I think that was the entire point of his character and Adam Sandler does a really good job of portraying that type of character. The Safdie Brothers once again bring their approach to filmmaking in a solid way. They do a great job of guiding the film through Howard as they raise the anxiety and emotion levels all the way up to 11. The cinematography in this film is gorgeous as the Safdie Brothers use color to their advantage and makes the film look a little like a sci-fi film through scenes like in the club scene. The choices made by Ratner in this film made me very angry at him as a character and that is what I go to the movies for. I want to feel emotions that I normally don’t feel whenever I see a movie and Uncut Gems succeeded in making me have anxiety and anger. Daniel Lopatin’s score served its purpose of elevating the emotions of the film with almost all of it being synth-electronic music. Really what makes the film work for me was Adam Sandler, this is the best work from him that I’ve seen in such a long time.
So with all the praise I’m giving Uncut Gems, I will say that I felt the opening and closing credits scenes went a little too long and that the ending does get ridiculous even though I understand why the decision was made to end it like that, I won’t say what happens, but I will say that the different reactions I’ve seen from people make it really interesting to reflect on. I do wish there would’ve been a few more scenes with Howard and his brother-in-law as it would’ve made the ending a little bit more impactful. I also felt there wasn’t as much heart in the character of Howard Ratner in this film than there was in Robert Pattinson’s Connie Nikas in Good Time. Connie had a motive for trying as hard as he could to get the money needed to bail his brother Nick out. Howard in Uncut Gems only has the motive of saving his own life and is reckless and a huge degenerate. So basically, I like Good Time more than Uncut Gems, but I still really liked this movie for different reasons that I just said.
This movie is another arthouse film like Blade Runner and The Lighthouse, the way that the Safdie Brothers direct this film through the writing, pacing, and editing, will turn a lot of people off and as of writing this review, it already has as both Rotten Tomatoes has an audience score of 56% (as of 12/28/19), and a CinemaScore of C+. But for me, personally, I think this film is a situation to where I like this film but everyone else hates it. Am I being biased about this because i’m a fan of Good Time? No i’m not. I saw Uncut Gems and the reaction was that I really liked it, not as much as Good Time, but really liked it. The Safdie Brothers succeeded in pushing my buttons of emotion to the point where I had a really good time with this movie. Uncut Gems is not for everyone, but it was worthy enough for me to watch. Let’s just agree to disagree if our opinions contrast, if you all know what I mean.