Uncut Gems: Review by @Kush_Hayes
Im not familiar with the Safdie Brothers, but when I hear something has inspired Adam Sandler to do something dramatic for the first time in ten years Im intrigued. I hate to admit this was my first non-Happy Maddison viewing with Sandler and I couldnt tell you when the last time I saw one of his comedies. However one narrative was always in the majority, when he does something like Funny People, or Reign Me In, or Spanglish, “he a really good actor”. What the problem has been, is those three titles combined wont equate to what one of this comedies would bring it.
Uncut Gems takes us from a Diamond Mine in Ethiopia and transfers us to 2010 New York City by having the camera weave through all the matter within this Black Opal, traveling through every nook, cranny and atom until we come out the other end of Sandlers Colon being examined for a standard middle aged man physical. If the subtext is too subtle for you, the Safdie Brothers are tell us the character is an asshole. We come to discover that while the character is not ignoring his family due to some kind of Drug or Alcohol problem, but its his consistent and ever looming Gambling Addiction that shatters the lives of the family of the character, Howard Ratner. Ratner is a successful jeweler in NYC and runs a good business within the jewelry district, however because of the stated above, Howard owes everybody money and is in bad business with everyone else. That doesnt keep Ratner from robbing Peter to rob Paul from when he robbed someone else because the rush of winning a sports bet is so great it just consumes him and, well, its easy to see how he might lose track of who he owes money too.
We even see that the sickness has taken over so much that when those parties do come to collect, he does what he can talk himself out of this situation. That includes eating random punches to the face in front of public and having his life threatened in front of even more. And its only when he finds out some guys stopped a bet he made that was a sure thing, that would have paid a lot of money, because he did win, that Ratner comes violent.
While all of this chaos above is happening, that Black Opal from the beginning is Ratners big break. After 17 months of whatever he went through, this rare Opal is finally delivered and yet within only 20 minutes of possessing it, the rock somehow ends up leaving with Boston Celtic Kevin Garnet who’s currently in the middle of a Eastern Semi Conference playoff series and thinks this Opal will give him luck, if not actual super powers. Not only is all of this just stupid, but even worse, the Opal is already intended to go to a very high priced auction house and needs appraising and time is a major factor going forward.
This movie does a great job of raising your anxiety of the situation certain scenes exhibit just because you yourself know theres no way you would allow yourself to get into this situation and would leave as quick as you could. And yet with that much common sense, youre trapped in this movie, much like all the patrons and employees are trapped within that jewelry office. And no matter how many times you try, you just can not buzz yourself out.
This movie doesnt seem to ever slow down, even when our main character isnt being chased by thugs with guns and other blunt objects. I found the synthesizer score just hypnotic and fascinating. You dont like many of the characters, if even all of them, however you do find yourself feeding into Ratners bullshit and you get excited to see him winning.
Four out of Six Blueberries.
Rated R for pervasive strong language, violence, some sexual content and brief drug use.
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