Uncut Gems Review

I won't harp on terrible audiences in this review because, shocker, I had a terrible audience experience. When I left the theater and went to my car, I thought it was just really cold, but then I realized I was sweating. Nearly the entire runtime of this movie it left my heart beating rapidly, which has only happened a small handful of times, and typically not the whole movie like this one.

Story- Howard Ratner is a jeweler with a penchant for gambling. He also loves what he does for work, yet still wants to make more money. Through his partner Demany, they happen upon Kevin Garnett in his store, and Howard shows him gems in stone that he purchased from a third world country. Garnett wants it, but Howard is reluctant. Through a series of high stakes moves, Howard aims to sell the gem and pull of amazing bets in the process. It's hard to fill this section out but I don't like giving away too much, especially with movies like this where there is so much to discuss. I've never had the urge to simultaneously gamble and absolutely never want to gamble, so that was interesting. I felt anxiety throughout the whole movie, and I didn't realize that a lot of people felt that after watching this, so clearly that's what the directors were going for. This movie for sure is going to stick with me a long time, and without spoilers, my jaw was near on the ground for the last ten minutes of the movie.

Cinematography/Props/Editing- This movie had a very dynamic range of colors. Most of it was darker, with a lot of scenes taking place in the evening or in dark areas, however there were also splashes of color in other scenes that really popped out. The cinematography was gorgeous, utilizing many unique camera angles which I always commend, especially relatively fresh directors. In their previous film Good Time, they utilized a lot of close ups in the beginning, which they remedied in this movie thankfully. The props were pretty unique too- I know celebrities will wear some crazy jewelry, but I never expected to see a Diamond coated gold Furby with moving eyes. They went really creative for those props. In terms of the editing, I think this was done pretty well too. I didn't see any glaring issues or a choppy use of editing given how fast paced the movie got at times.

Acting- I'm only going to go into two of the roles that I felt were the most dynamic in this movie, which I hesitate to do because most other reviews I've briefly browsed have talked about the same two, but that's what I get for procrastinating this review (and there's way too many celebrities that were in this movie, I have no clue how they got the budget, especially given it was an A24 production). Starting with Kevin Garnett, I wanted to briefly touch on his acting because it was weirdly unsettling. There was one scene in the trailer where he's looking into the camera that is shooting him at a Celtics game, and he's almost menacing in a way, but it kept me entranced. It's interesting to see sports stars or other non-actor celebrities act in movies. Then of course we come to Adam Sandler, one of the most infamous Hollywood Ragdolls. I'm one of the only people that doesn't constantly bash him for the stupid choices in roles he's made for himself in the last decade, and this movie is almost my "told you so" to people who say he's a terrible actor. Once the novelty wore off of it being Adam Sandler, I was entranced by his performance, and I'd even go as far to say it was a transcendent role. Especially given Sandler directs his own movies, he could've easily given the Safdie brothers a hard time or been a prima donna, but they clearly conveyed how they wanted him to act because he destroyed it out of the park. Between this and The Lighthouse, we've got some real big contenders for awards season. I sincerely hope they don't make this year a joke or gravitate toward Oscar bait movies, because we've been treated to some real gems this year (pun absolutely intended).

Directing- The Safdie brothers have just made their way into my pantheon of amazing directors. Between this and Good Time, they've captured my full and undivided attention, much like Jordan Peele has in his fresh directing career. After seeing this movie, it cemented my opinion even stronger than ever before my passion definitively lies solely in making movies, in whatever capacity. I love how they directed this movie, just encapsulating everything I've said in this review. I truly am intriugied to see what they tackle next- I will say, I hope it deals with different subject matter because I'd love to see them go in a different genre direction. I may be biased in recent memory but I'd love to see them direct a horror movie.

Soundtrack/Audio- Man do these brothers love their 80's synth music. That isn't a bad thing to me because I love that type of soundtrack, so it really worked for me. I will say it didn't quite fit as well as Good Time, but it still worked for me, especially utilizing the glimmer of the gem. There were also several rap songs in the soundtrack but I have no clue what they were. Overall I feel it fit the tone of the movie.

Final Verdict- A. I typically don't watch trailers but when I saw the one for this movie for the first time, I knew it was going to be great, and I wasn't wrong. I'm gonna drop a semi-spoiler here, just for anyone who has seen the movie, the ending as well left me with such a range of emotions. The triumph and relief that you feel is immediately shattered with "and it was all for nothing" and that was really hard for me to deal with, as cynical as I can be, but I also partially was thinking "where could it logically end but on this point". It sure is a hard pill to swallow, but the movie was just too good to let that notion impact my opinion on it.

#Drama #DarkComedy #AdamSandler #SafdieBrothers