Review of Uncut Gems (2019) by Gabrielnla — 17 Dec 2019

I wanted to see Bombshell, my friend didn't want to watch a movie where Megyn Kelly is a victim, so we went to Uncut Gems instead. "It's supposed to be one of the best movies of the year," my friend said. And sure enough, the reviews are mostly glowing. And yet...I left the theater with a headache when it was over. As a story, it's...kind of interesting? As a character piece...it's not very interesting? And as a cinematic experience...it's mostly annoying. Sandler is absolutely believable as an idiot unable to help himself (and by help himself, I mean stop himself from making one bad decision after another). There's no character development, though, and every supporting character is just a caricature of a human being. I don't think I've ever been to a movie where every character on screen spends the majority of the time screaming and yelling at each other this much. Half the time, if somebody on screen would have just shut the hell up for a second, maybe they'd have been able to resolve the current conflict. And those conflicts just kept coming; as did the yelling. (I kind of want someone to watch this film just to count the number of "F*cks" in this movie. It's literally every other word out of Sandler's mouth; and I mean "literally" as the dictionary defines it, not how millennials use it.).

Sandler starts at 11 here (well, technically he starts the film unconscious in a doctor's office) and just stays there. There's one moment of nuance, of self-reflection by his character, where he realizes he's just one giant messed up idiot, but it lasts for about a minute, and then he goes right back to his factory default settings.

When Indina Menzel's character (she plays Sandler's wife) says something like, "I'd be happy never seeing you again," I thought, "Same." I couldn't wait for all the yelling to stop.