Uncut Gems (2019)

There is a particular strain of American crime film that works not through violence or mystery but through sustained, almost unbearable anxiety. Uncut Gems, released in 2019 and distributed by A24, belongs firmly to that tradition. Written and directed by brothers Benny and Josh Safdie, it follows Howard Ratner, a New York diamond district jeweller whose appetite for gambling and deal-making has left him perpetually one bad decision away from catastrophe. The film unfolds across a compressed, chaotic stretch of days in which Howard is trying to auction a rare Ethiopian opal, manage a crumbling marriage, keep various creditors at bay, and place a series of increasingly reckless bets. The Safdie brothers had already attracted serious attention with their previous feature, and with this one they pushed their signature style of frenetic, overlapping dialogue and handheld immediacy to something close to its logical extreme. At 136 minutes, it is not a short film, but it rarely pauses long enough for you to remember that.

The casting is one of the film's most discussed qualities, and with good reason. Adam Sandler, a performer whose comic work you will know well from films like Big Daddy and Mr. Deeds, takes the lead role here and operates in an entirely different register. Howard is loud, sweating, charming, self-defeating and somehow still magnetic, a man whose optimism functions almost like a personality disorder. Julia Fox makes her feature film debut as Julia, Howard's girlfriend, and holds her own in a cast of considerable experience. LaKeith Stanfield, reliably watchable in almost anything he appears in, takes a supporting role, while NBA star Kevin Garnett plays a version of himself at a pivotal point in his career, circa the 2012 playoffs. Idina Menzel plays Howard's estranged wife Dinah, and the domestic scenes she anchors provide some of the film's few moments of relative stillness. The Safdie brothers shot largely on location in New York, and the texture of the diamond district, all glass cases and hushed negotiation and barely contained aggression, feels thoroughly authentic.

For anyone interested in how far the thriller genre can be stretched before it snaps, Uncut Gems sits in interesting company alongside films like Pacifiction and When Evil Lurks, each of which generates dread through very different means. Where those films tend toward a slow, creeping unease, the Safdies go for something closer to sensory overload, a score by Daniel Lopatin (Oneohtrix Point Never) that pulses and hums underneath almost every scene, and an editing rhythm that allows conversations to barrel over one another rather than take turns. Whether that approach works for you will probably depend on how much stress you are willing to sit with voluntarily.

The most stressful film ever. Adam Sandler reminds me alot of Al Pacino in this one and that's a big compliment. His acting is great, the entire cast actually is great. The only reason I kinda marked it down was because the writing was a little erratic. Like, I get it... they're trying to build a picture of this wheeler n dealer who's got 50 angles working at once, but adding the Weeknd into the mix just seemed like overkill. A couple of threads they could have done without and it would have given Sandler more room to act and not just be constantly moving from one panic disaster to another. The ending was absolutely fantastic. Very reminiscent of Carlito's Way for me.

That Carlito's Way comparison has stayed with me since I watched this. There is something about the way both films construct a protagonist you know is heading somewhere bad, and yet keep you hoping, almost against your better judgement, that they might just pull it off. For me, the film is polished but occasionally overloaded, and I think the point about Sandler needing more room is well made: when the film does slow down enough to let him work, the performance is something genuinely special. The erratic quality in the writing is real, and it is a shame, because the core of the thing is strong enough that it did not need every subplot it has been given. Still, the ending earns a lot of goodwill back. Not a film you forget in a hurry, even if parts of it you might quite like to.

Rating: ★★★★  | Year: 2019  | Watched: 2025-04-19

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Trailer

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