Uncut Gems

Uncut Gems features Adam Sandler at his best, both in terms of character and performance! He plays Howard Ratner, a Jewish jeweler who is also an impulsive gambler! Seeing his life choices will make you wanna pull your hair apart out of stress, frustration and anger! Every wrong choice an individual could make, he makes it! Every worst possible outcome that could happen due to his actions, most definitely happens! And because of this exceptional writing quality, Uncut Gems shines all the way from start to finish, gloriously!

Where do we even begin talking about one of the most idiotic protagonists you'll ever see on silver screen? Howard Ratner has debts up to his neck with moneylenders constantly tailing him for the amount he owes them. But every single time he gains the sufficient money to return them, he chooses to gamble the entire lot into a different avenue, making the debtors run for their money again! He owns a jewelry store, but it doesn't seem like the business is going all too well. He has a wife on the verge of divorce and an affair at the same time. Also, he has children whom he has no time to spend for. Do you see how messy his life is? Howard constantly pushes his luck too far! He makes promises before his chickens have laid the eggs, and when he has the eggs, he places it all in one basket and loses them in one go! Again, as aforementioned, Howard Ratner is one of the best written 3-dimensional characters ever! Even though you know he is in deep shit due to his own doings, you couldn't help but empathize with him and feel extremely sorry for his continuous streak of bad luck!

Safdie Brothers' screenplay is gold due to the amount of conflicts planted every step of the protagonist's way! When they give Howard a stroke of fortune such as the Ethiopian Jewish rare opal stone, it's immediately taken away from him that he has to make a run for it, and this forms the crux. Lending it to NBA player KG snowballs him into huge problems! Cancelled sports bet, gemstone being appraised at a much lower price than expected, goons trying to stop Howard's girlfriend from entering the sports book and Howard requesting his father-in-law to increase the bid at the auction which accidentally leads him to pay the price for his own opal are great sources of conflicts! Stuck electronic door and KG's connection with the gemstone are seamless plot points that invest itself as set ups, benefits or setbacks. Whenever there's a scene or sequence that doesn't deal with conflicts, it's equally engaging, such as Howard's son bathroom usage, Howard chasing his girlfriend away after discovering she's alone with The Weeknd and trying to change over a new leaf with his wife being examples. Not to mention, all the myriad forms of harassment Howard faces from the shylocks are equally depressing and steadily progressive, with him locked in his car trunk naked being a glaring instance. The climax is absolutely riveting with the screenplay again giving the protagonist an incredible stroke of luck through the basketball game that yields him a million bucks, but ends up taking it away by loan sharks shooting him dead!

In the beginning throughout the credits, the background score is annoyingly disruptive. Sometimes the voiceovers can clash and it's loud as well, but it does significantly improve afterwards. All the simultaneous conversations Howard has off and on the phone are hilariously chaotic. Live colonoscopy feed is disgusting to watch but it's a good transition nevertheless. Techno variant scores are interesting too!