The new Adam Sandler movie, Uncut Gems, is getting rave reviews. The movie premiered at the Telluride Film Festival over the weekend before its December release, and it currently has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 92 on GameSpot sister site Metacritic. To be fair, there are only around 10 review scores published thus far, but it is a strong start and potentially representative of how the movie will rate when it’s released widely later this year.
The movie, which was directed by Benny and Josh Safdie, is a crime-thriller that follows the story of Howard Ratner (Sandler) who is a New York City jeweller intent on amassing more wealth. “When he makes a series of high-stakes bets that could lead to the windfall of a lifetime, Howard must perform a precarious high-wire act, balancing business, family, and encroaching adversaries on all sides, in his relentless pursuit of the ultimate win,” reads a line from its description.
There has yet to be a trailer for Uncut Gems thus far, but the rave early reviews are an indication that this is one to watch. In addition to Sandler, the movie stars Eric Bogosian, Idina Menzel, Judd Hirsch, and LaKeith Stanfield.
Eric Kohn of IndieWire gave the movie an A rating. Kohn wrote that Uncut Gems is a “riveting high-wire act, pairing cosmic visuals with the gritty energy of a dark psychological thriller and sudden bursts of frantic comedy, and it’s the first movie to truly commune with Sandler’s performative strengths since Punch-Drunk Love.”
Meanwhile, Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, “Sandler’s performance shows that time may have provided him peeks at the errors of his ways, but the fact that he’s continued to get away with things gives him the confidence to carry on, without lessons learned. It’s a helluva part, and Sandler aces it.
Acclaimed film director Martin Scorsese is an executive producer on Uncut Gems.
