Uncut Gems (2019)
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Uncut Gems Movie Review
Uncut Gems is a 2019 crime thriller film directed by the Safdie brothers and starring Adam Sandler. It is an interesting and solid, but far from great flick.
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“Jews and colon cancer.
What’s up with that?
I thought we were the chosen people“
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A charismatic jeweler makes a high-stakes bet that could lead to the windfall of a lifetime. In a precarious high-wire act, he must balance business, family and adversaries on all sides in pursuit of the ultimate win. This wasn’t a particularly immersive story for me personally as I am not the biggest fan of the crime genre, but admittedly I have to say that it’s quite well executed for the most part.
Adam Sandler is excellent in the main role. Actually, he is much better than all three gentlemen from ‘The Irishman’, and the fact that most awards groups failed to notice him is very irritating. He’s the brightest star here, delivering his career-best work. The character is annoying, but realistically so, and he is immensely well developed too.
Others are also fine, but are much less memorable overall. Idina Menzel is solid herself, and Kevin Garnett also makes an impact. The film should prove absolutely terrific for NBA fans. But for me, the gambling, and most of the plot here wasn’t all that interesting, but I have to recognize how well executed it all is of course.
Uncut Gems was directed by the Safdie brothers who have such a unique style of filmmaking for better and for worse. I did appreciate how cinematic they made it out to be, but some of the choices also got on my nerves, especially the overloud soundtrack that at times made it impossible to hear the dialogue which itself is quite good. The sound mixing overall is very poor here.
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But I did like the film’s cinematography, and I also appreciated how engaging it is in many of its parts despite it being such a long movie. What I did not appreciate, though, is the constant yelling on the part of its characters as well as its rushed plot progression that made the film brisk, but not as sophisticated.
The Safdie brothers have a very unique filmmaking style for better and for worse. I did like the cinematography and brisk pacing in Uncut Gems, but I strongly disliked the overloud soundtrack and constant yelling by its characters. The script is fine and it has its genre thrills for sure, but it’s ultimately not as sophisticated or as great as most have said it is. Adam Sandler is the standout of this picture, delivering one of the year’s finest performances.
