Uncut Gems (2019)

Uncut Gems (2019)

On-brand anxiety-inducing thrills from the Safdie Brothers

7.9

Movie

South Africa, United States of America
English
Crime, Drama, Thriller
2019
BENNY SAFDIE, JOSH SAFDIE
Abel Tesfaye, Adam Sandler, Alexander Gilkes
136 min

What it's about

A charismatic New York City jeweler always on the lookout for the next big score makes a series of high-stakes bets that could lead to the windfall of a lifetime. Howard must perform a precarious high-wire act, balancing business, family, and encroaching adversaries on all sides in his relentless pursuit of the ultimate win.

The take

A crazy, anxiety-inducing thriller that turns Adam Sandler into a thrill-generating machine, which in its own speaks volumes about the rhythm of this movie. It follows a jeweler who gets himself in trouble with what feels like all of New York - a gang, Kevin Garnett (the NBA player), other jewelers, his family, odd twins that appear out of nowhere - everyone. This all happens in the backdrop of him feeling he has “hit big” and is on the verge of receiving a lot of money.

If you watched Good Time, you know what to expect from directors Safdie brothers: excruciating tension that keeps building up when you thought it wasn’t possible. And that might be the only problem with Uncut Gems; the tension doesn't feel that different from Good Time, and having watched one you can guess where the other one is going.

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Comments

What a piece of crap and a waste of 2 hours of your life. Adam Sandler and his annoying New York accent is tacky and annoying.

Uncut Gems is a pretty good indie film that subverts expectations, but “weird’? If I’d checked it out expecting a weird film, I’d be bitterly disappointed.

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