Review of Uncut Gems (2019) by Thequietgamer — 28 Mar 2020

Adam Sandler finally has a movie to compete with Punch-Drunk Love. This is essentially the story of one man's self-destructive downward spiral. Our lead starts things off in an already bad position and the situation only gets worse for him from there. At first you think he's just an unlucky idiot, but as the film progresses you realize that he's making these bad decisions on purpose and intentionally digging himself into a deeper hole. All because he believes that if he just keeps on digging he'll eventually break through to the other side and come out on top with the ultimate win. The man has a genuine sickness.

Yet, despite all of this he's actually kind of likable. Maybe it's just because of Sandler, but even at his loudest and most obnoxious (there's a lot of yelling in this) I couldn't help but root for the guy. I wanted to see him succeed and find a way out of this mess. Which is what made it so compelling to keep watching in spite of all the frustration that arose from seeing the character acquire a means of walking away and refusing to use it.

Of course it also helps that it's stylish as heck. With its synth-soundtrack and occasionally psychedelic 35mm visuals, this a treat for both the eyes and the ears. It kind of reminds me of Nightcrawler in that everything looks grainy, yet gorgeous like a sleazy '80s flick. The whole thing feels so much grittier because of it.

What's crazy is that this does so many of the same things we criticize some of the most notoriously bad movies for, like having needless subplots that don't go anywhere. For example the film opens with Sandler getting a colonoscopy. Presumably so that at some point it can be revealed he has cancer on top of everything else going on. But when the doctor does finally call him with the results around an hour or so later into the running-time he tells him that everything's fine and it's never brought up again. What was the point of that? We also learn that the protagonist owes money to a second dude that he tries to pay off with a fake Rolex. The guy shows up again in a few other scenes to get some form of actual payment, but he just gets ignored and I'm left wondering why he's even in this at all.

However, where that sort of thing doesn't work in other movies, here it does. That's because the Safdie brothers are just that talented as directors. The way the danger builds to an unforgettable finale where what would normally be a tension free event becomes a teeth-clenching, seat-gripping nightmare of anticipation makes Uncut Gems darn near a masterpiece. To the point where after having just finished it I immediately thought about watching it again.