Uncut Gems movie review - Aussieboyreviews
IS UNCUT GEMS A STRESSFUL AND INTENSE GAMBLING DRAMA?
This movie is stressful, intense, fast-paced and a big mess, which’ll work in some ways for some audiences. Adam Sandler gives a serious performance as a jeweller who takes risks and gambles. Uncut Gems is very engaging, but is also messy and stressful.
Storyline
With his debts rapidly increasing and struggling to balance his family and business, a jeweller in New York City risks everything as he makes a high-stakes bet that could result in the windfall of a lifetime.
Movie Images
Movie details
Director: Josh Safdie, Benny Safdie
Cast: Adam Sandler, Julia Fox, Lakeith Stanfield, Idina Menzel, Kevin Garnett, Eric Bogosian, Judd Hirsch, Keith William Richards
Writer: Ronald Bronstein, Josh Safdie, Benny Safdie
Release Date (Australia): 31 January 2020
Runtime: 135 minutes/2h 15m
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Language: English, Hebrew
CONTENT GUIDE (warning: May contain spoilers)
The film contains strong themes of gambling addiction.
The film contains depictions of men being shot that are accompanied by blood sprays and close-up depictions of the gunshot wounds. There are also depictions of kicking, punching and bloody injuries.
The film features very frequent, often aggressive use of the word “f**k”, as well as use of the words “c**ksucker”, “s**t”, “**shole” and “n***a”.
There are brief depictions of cocaine snorting.
There are depictions of a painting that features full frontal female nudity.
The film contains a depiction of a woman masturbating, a scene in which a man and woman text each other sexual messages and crude sexual references.
mpaa rating
R (for pervasive strong language, violence, some sexual content and brief drug use)
Aussie boy's thoughts
Uncut Gems and Adam Sandler themselves are truly brilliant, but the entirety of this film executes the story through jolty camerawork and people talking fast over each other. This makes for a very fast-paced and extremely stressful gambling drama, but usually a bit more than it needs to be. It’s an amazing film, but it’s also what they can call an assault on our senses.
In fact, that’s probably the only real issue in the film, and it’ll actually work really well for some. If someone you know told you they hated the movie, thought it was overly rushed or just generally boring, you’d definitely understand where they’re coming from. The bumpy camerawork may be nauseating and the dialogue can be very difficult and stressful to keep up on, sometimes to the point where you’ll rewind a scene just to catch the words they’re talking over other characters’ words, but it’s a gambling drama, and quite an entertainingly effective one at that.
Adam Sandler, the comedian who does goofy comedies like Grown Ups, 50 First Dates and Big Daddy, proves he can pull off a serious performance that isn’t in the comedy genre. He’s excellent in this film, and you really root for him as he struggles more throughout the film, which causes you to feel stressed for him. It’s a very stressful and effective movie definitely worth looking into, but you’ll either adjust or lose interest to the pace within the first fast hour.
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