Uncut Gems

Minor spoilers as to the nature of the ending.

This was a fantastic pick for my first film viewing experience of the year, as I’d hoped it would be.

Uncut Gems is an Adam Sandler movie, but in such a different way than the “Adam Sandler films” of the past decade or two: not only is it dramatic Sandler, but Sandler as a genuine character actor. Pretty early into Uncut Gems, I stopped watching Adam Sandler on the screen—I only saw Howard Ratner. Howard Ratner, an impulsive man who needs instant gratification and breaks every promise he makes, yet is still a sympathetic character we want to see succeed. Other actors could have played a similar role and been good, but Sandler’s performance is almost magical; it’s a show within a show, knowing Sandler and his diminishing career, watching him dig deep as Howard, who’s constantly performing his own show of the innocent nice guy, the hey don’t worry about it, you know me, I’m good for the money, just trust me guy. The vulnerability is what sells it; Sandler has put himself completely and totally at the mercy of the filmmakers, and it pays off. In stark contrast to a lot of his more recent films, Sandler isn’t playing the bored man-child married to a gorgeous woman living in an enormous mansion, filled with ennui amidst his wide support system and easy wealth; as Howard, he lies constantly, betrays his friends and family, can’t control his temper, is always the least powerful guy in the room no matter how hard he tries, can’t charm his way out of a paper bag, and in general radiates failure, misery, and shattered dreams in every situation he’s in. On paper, the character sounds like an unlikable bastard, but on screen is where Sandler is pulling his weight as a performer; he’s so pathetically eager to please, desperate to be liked and admired and is so nakedly vulnerable (at one point literally) that you wish he could find some scrap of dignity, if for nobody’s sake but your own as a viewer. We want him to win, godammit; that’s the goal in Uncut Gems, is we want to see Howard win (and not immediately fuck it up) just one time. And I suppose he does, in the end. It’s appropriately brutal and heart-wrenching, but you cannot deny: Howard wins.

I feel like Uncut Gems took the line that was in many of the trailers for Joker—”I used to think my life was a comedy, but now I know it’s a fucking tragedy,”—and turned that into a movie with some actual humanity, some real fucking pathos. It was a tough fucking sit—I got a tension headache half an hour in, audibly gasped at least once, and felt stressed for hours afterward. But the tension is warranted, as the film’s heavy, uneasy tone is an integral part of its authenticity. That’s probably the take-away; the authenticity of it. Uncut Gems is an incredibly well-crafted piece of character-driven storytelling, and if you want to live in it for its two-hour runtime and then forget about it the second it’s done, that’s fine. But if you want to look for more, Uncut Gems offers itself up to the audience in all its full naked glory, rolling onto its back to show you its underbelly, the ugly and the beautiful, the raw and uncut. 

Bulletpoint points:

• LOVE the score—the 70s/psychedelic tone really added to the experience of taking a deep dive into someone else’s mind.
• The wardrobe, especially Sandler’s, is IMPECCABLE.
• LaKeith Stanfield (more like we stanfield ha ha ha), Idina Menzel, and (surprisingly) Kevin Garnett, all deliver fantastic performances.
• This movie looks GOOD, and the trippy diamond sequences are especially stunning.
• I liked the incorporation of Howard’s Judaism; more visible representation, please.
• The movie started with blood, and ended with blood, and that really makes ya think.
• There wasn’t room for this in the review, but like honestly, Sandler’s been pretty great in the Hotel Transylvania series, but he isn’t the only, or really even primary, reason Drac is funny; the whip-fast pacing, gorgeously expressive animation, and barrage of jokes are equally vital aspects.
• Fucking Furbys.