Movie Breakdown: Uncut Gems (Noah)
Pre-Screening Stance:
The Safdie’s Good Times with Robert Pattinson still haunts me in the best possible way. If this was a video of a man stirring old milk with his pinky finger while a child whispered Robert Frost poetry quietly for two and half hours, but it was directed by the Safdie Brothers, I’d give it a chance.
Post-Screening Ramble:
Whatever it is you think you’re getting into with Uncut Gems, I imagine you’ll find yourself pleasantly surprised. The Safdie Brothers, still glowing in the light of Good Times, have somehow taken a massive leap forward without leaving their sandbox. Uncut Gems follows degenerate gambler, full-time loser, bad husband, worse father and surprisingly likable jeweler-to-the-stars Howard Ratner (Adam Sandler) over the course of a week as he makes a lot of big mistakes trying to cash in on a big ass bet. The Safdies have managed – as few directors have before – to take Sandler’s neurotic, baby-talking, man child persona and make it the core of the character of Howard Ratner. Sandler’s take on Ratner is purposefully frustrating, a shit-eating grin wearing asshole who never thinks he’s going to lose even when he does over and over again. There’s a child like glee to the character that fuels his anger, his anxieties, his jealousy, and though you cringe (and this is a beautifully cringe-worthy film) whenever Ratner decides to make another shitty decision, you cling to the hope that Sandler is able to imbue his faux-flash diamond dealer with. Uncut Gems is a knot of anxiety from the first moments in an Ethiopian diamond mine to every single moment after. It’s a film that makes Ratner’s viewing of a basketball game (on television no less) as tense as anything you’ve seen in a while. It blindsides you with its ending and leaves you gasping on the floor wondering what happened and why you enjoyed it so much. It taps a certain 90s gangster rap vibe in a way no other movie has in years. It is quite frankly, one of the best things you’ll see this year.
One Last Thought:
Idina Menzel is in this! And she has one of the meanest monologues you’ll ever hear. You can almost feel the executives at Disney biting their lips every moment she totally tears Sandler a new one.
