Uncut Gems

Uncut Gems casts Adam Sandler as Howard Ratner, a slick, fast-talking jeweler who attempts to pull off a series of high-stakes bets to pay off the various debt collectors on his tail. Filmmakers Benny and Josh Safdie have infused Uncut Gems with an impressively stylish sensibility that’s reflected in its myriad of attributes, with, especially, Daniel Lopatin’s ominous score and Darius Khondji’s lush, captivating visuals effectively perpetuating the Safdies’ visceral sensibilities. And although the picture boasts an absolutely spellbinding turn from Sandler, with the actor delivering an impressively transformative performance, Uncut Gems‘ episodic structure paves the way for an exceedingly erratic midsection that’s rarely as engrossing and tense as one might’ve anticipated – with the film’s arms-length atmosphere compounded by the protagonist’s somewhat inexplicable behavior (ie why doesn’t he just stop?) The ongoing inclusion of admittedly absorbing sequences (eg Howard attempts to repair a security door in his shop) proves effective at buoying one’s interest on a fairly regular basis, at least, and yet Uncut Gems‘ lack of connective tissue ensures that the whole thing hardly concludes on the taut note that the Safdies have clearly intended – which is a shame, certainly, given that the movie does boast a whole handful of better-than-average elements. (Sandler is indeed just that good here, despite the always-distracting fake teeth.)

** out of ****

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