‘UNCUT GEMS’
Adam Sandler sparkles in Safdie Brothers thriller
Howard Ratner likes to bet big. He’s a guy whose brain function hums in service of constantly processing the odds.
To Howard, life is a gamble; the pursuit of it leaves him giddy. In “Uncut Gems,” that want, will become as dangerous as it is all-consuming.
Howard owns a mid-level jewelry business in the diamond district of Manhattan. It provides for his family while leaving enough for a girlfriend on the side.
The year is 2012 and Howard (an excellent Adam Sandler) has gotten his hands on a rare Ethiopian black opal. It seems to have an almost mystical effect on some people. Howard’s acquaintance, Demany (Lakeith Stanfield), whose job it is to get athletes and other big names to drop by the store, brings in Boston Celtics star Kevin Garnett. Garnett doesn’t want some gaudy, diamond-encrusted Furby necklace, but damned if that opal doesn’t speak to him.
And so the spinning begins. One move begets another. Anxiety mounts, but Howard hasn’t gotten entangled in the details … yet.
It’s hard to dislike Howard, who has a cocky kind of charm. Sure, he’s obnoxious, but he’s one of those people who seems to happily thrive by just being around other people. He has debts, Howard does. A plan forms involving Garnett, an NBA championship ring, that opal and a series of escalating risks. This a film that will test your stamina. Try to keep up, and enjoy the ride.
Players in Howard’s high-wire balancing act include people to whom he owes money (Eric Bogosian), and goons (Keith Williams Richards, Tommy Kominik, Louis Anthony Armis), not to mention his wife, Dinah (Idina Menzel) and girlfriend/assistant Julie (Julia Fox).
“Uncut Gems” is many things beyond a mere crime caper. The film achieves an impressive balance of humor and white-knuckle tension while leading to a boffo finish. The screenplay by directors Josh and Benny Safdie and Ronald Bronstein is filled to the brim with bits of improvised dialogue where people talk over each other constantly, as in real life.
The Safdies maintain they never closed streets in shooting in New York City while setting up cameras far from the action. Many of the actors in the film are novices. The result is a window into a natural-looking, busy, sometimes-frightening world. The acting — to a man, woman and amateur extra — is totally believable.
The brothers have said they wanted to make “Uncut Gems” years ago. But finances were tight, so they shot a few smaller projects instead, including “Good Time,” starring Robert Pattinson. From the start, they envisioned Adam Sandler as Howard. Yes, the Adam Sandler of “Happy Gilmore” and “Jack and Jill.” Yet this Adam Sandler absolutely deserves the Oscar buzz he’s getting.
If scales could measure the life of a movie career, “Uncut Gems” outweighs all of the previous lousy Sandler roles combined. He’s the center stone in an exciting chaos of a story that grabs your attention and refuses to let go.