Uncut Gems (2019)

When you think of films hitting the theaters these days, Adam Sandler (Happy Gilmore) is not a name that comes to mind, but if we were talking mid to late 90's and on you couldn't have the conversation without him. He ruled the comedy world at one point before his career took an alternate route for a while, but he's back in the box office with a brand new film in Uncut Gems that has been getting quite the praise so I had to see it for myself. In the film, Sandler plays a jeweler named Howard Ratner, who seems to have it all, but underneath all of it lies a dark tale. The dark tale is the fact that Ratner has a little bit of a gambling problem that seems to get worse and bad people are after him. That is until one day, an uncut gem from Eithopia could be his ticket out of it all the problems. The film also stars former NBA legend Kevin Garnett as himself, The Weeknd as himself, Idina Menzel (Frozen) as Dina,  Jonathan Aranbayev as Eddie, Lakeith Stanfield (Knives Out) as Demany, Eric Bogosian (Boogie Nights) as Arnold, Judd Hirsch (Taxi) as Gooey, Pom Klementieff (Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2) as Lexus, Julia Fox as Julia, and the film was directed by Josh and Benny Safdie (Good Time).

This was definitely a good role for Sandler to take and while you can't help but have some funny moments in a film it was definitely something different for him. Unfortunately while he did a great job in the film, the definite break out star of the film was Julia Fox who in her first major role knocked it out of the park in my opinion. She plays Howard's side piece Julia who in one view may not be the most innocent character, but in the end like Fox said in an interview, "She's really ride or die... she's a trooper." It was a role that was apparently written for her which is no surprise to why she was so amazing in the film to begin with. Funny little stat for you guys out there, this film ranks seventh all time on the list of most F bombs in a film at 408 which is insane, but one film on the list has 935. The film at times is definitely a slow burn as things are developing over time, but they get real interesting when you realize that the threat is real and he is still an idiot that can't stop gambling. Believe it or not, the film is not based on a true story, but rather stories the Safdie brothers father would tell them of various guys in the diamond district. One thing is definitely for sure and that is I did not see the ending coming at all and it kind of delighted me because it was different than your typical endings that you always see. Check it out in theaters right now and I am going to give the film an B- for a final grade.