Uncut Gems (2019)

He's no diamond geezer - Uncut Gems review by WS

It’s about a man with a reverse Midas touch – all the gold he touches turns to poop!

Howard Ratner is a successful and knowledgeable jeweller who (unlike Gerald, his blundering UK namesake) offers luxury bling to customers at the upper end of the market. He counts among his regular clients a basketball star named Keith Garnett (he actually plays for the Boston Celtics in real life). Howard is however in dire financial straits, partly owing to his gambling fixation. He likes to bet on the outcomes of basketball games, a sport to which he is fanatically devoted – more than he is to his wife, sons, and mistress, in fact.

He’s concocted a get-rich-quick scheme, by which he will smuggle a rare uncut African black opal into the country, which he anticipates will sell at a 600 % profit, allowing him to pay off the 100K he’s had to borrow from loan sharks. Unfortunately, his scheme, and his life generally, seem to be constantly on the verge of catastrophe thanks to his over-confidence, poor judgement, and talent for rubbing people up the wrong way. When he gets some cash in hand he gambles with it instead of using it to pay off his loan; he doesn’t allow himself enough time to get the opal properly valued before the auction; and he behaves boisterously and arrogantly towards the mobsters who have lent him the money. The loan-sharking crew is led by his brother-in-law Arno; this may explain why they go easy on him at first, although Arno has some very scary-looking goy (possibly Russian?) associates who, you suspect, might not be so lenient if they were running the outfit.

Although marketed as a thriller, the emphasis is more on dialogue and character motivation than thrills and suspense. It feels more sleazy and gritty than noir-ish, partly a consequence of the central character, who is by turns devious, aggressive, and self-pitying. Then again, there isn’t really a truly admirable person in this picture – the only benign characters are fools. I think the biggest weakness is the underdevelopment of the female characters. Julia doesn’t really amount to more than a stereotype – the gorgeous young mistress with no life plans of her own, pathetically devoted to a well-off but obviously unreliable married man who keeps promising to leave his wife. Dinah, meanwhile, seems remarkably tolerant of her husband’s misdeeds and his chaotic approach to business. I don’t think a normal woman would stay so calm and composed on finding her husband locked naked inside the trunk of his own car. The grimy feel of the story is enhanced and underlined by the close-range hand-held camera work, the 90s techno-inspired soundtrack, and the unconventional sound mix which often gives equal priority to ambient noise and background chatter as against what the principal protagonists are actually saying.

Perhaps to an extent the Safdie brothers, themselves Jewish, are rebelling against the habitual portrayal of Jews in the movies and on TV as being either respectable, clean-cut high-achievers or nerdy, sexually-inadequate wimps, and wanted to make a film showing Jews as badass wheeler-dealers who have more in common with African-Americans than their fellow light-skinned Caucasians. At one point Howards black assistant Demany, played by Lakeith Stanfield, even calls him a “Jewish n****r”.

It all adds up to a rather sour and nihilistic worldview. But I felt that Adam Sandler’s performance, the cinematography, and soundtrack, all made it compelling, it was never dull and I never stopped wanting to know what would happen next even though the central protagonist is such a sleazebag. However, I do feel it would be a less rewarding experience on the small screen.

Gripping thriller - Breaking Bad risk x 10 - Uncut Gems review by AER

Wow, this was one helluva ride. Making Walter from Breaking Bad look like a completely conservative p*ssy when it comes to risk taking, the levels of stress Adam Sandler's NYC jeweller puts himself (and the viewer) through are colossal. When he buys an opal from Ethopia, he borrows big against the forecast price tag at an auction scheduled for the next few days. When an NBA superstar borrows the stone overnight for good luck, this is just the start (or culmination) or nightmares that come down the pike at this guy. Juggling a crumbling marriage, a pushy mistress, family debts, gangsters, creditors and the results of an endoscopy all gaining on him, it would be a miracle not to suffer a heart attack at the end of this magnificent, authentic triumph in movie making. Much has been made of Adam Sandler's excellent lead turn but he's been this good before in Punch Drunk Love and to a lesser degree in Funny People. It's a superb cast from top to bottom though, and he's well supported by known and unknown actors. If you like dramas, once you find you bearings after a hectic first 15 minutes, this is vital viewing. If you hate Adam Sandler's comedies that's irrelevant. Watch this.

Don't watch this if you don't like swearing, don't like arguements, have a heart condition....

Inexorable Videos Micro Review: Uncut Gems - Uncut Gems review by EP

Uncut Gems is a masterfully edited (sound and picture wise) claustrophobic dramedy that takes the genre to a new and unique place. Sandler gives one of his best performances to date.