“When you win, that’s all that matters”
Adam Sandler can really do it all, he can star in the best comedies (Happy Gilmore) and also in some of the worst (Jack and Hill), to even some favorite romantic comedies (The Wedding Singer, Fifty-First Dates) yet he can also star in more than just comedy and if you are having any doubts just watch him in “Uncut Gems” which is now streaming on Netflix.
The film, released in 2019 (yes, this is a late review) was chosen by the National Board of Review as one of the top ten films for that year and it also won Sandler the Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead. (We are not forgetting this Oscar snub).
There is a saying that goes “Those who live by the sword, die by the sword” and I always thought that it pertained to violence involving guns, and being in gangs or mobs. Now I see, that it can also mean being addicted to different vices, like gambling.
Howard Ratner is a Jewish jeweler and a gambling addict who just came into the possesion of a rare black Opal. Hoping to cash in big, he must weave through angry debt collectors, his brother-in-law loan shark, a crumbling marriage, a crazy mistress, NBA players (in the movie Kevin Garnet, played by himself) and his own addiction.
Anxiety inducing, and oh so very tense, I was screaming and shouting by the time that the third act was unfolding, I had to pause the film to catch my breath and take a break from the stress; and when the finale was wrapping up, I was just dumbfounded at how it ended. And I’ve been thinking about the movie, most specifically its ending for the past few days, even after seeing it and I would always consider movies like these that leave a lasting impression on me, really one of the good ones.