A Reel Review: UNCUT GEMS

The “morality tale” has been, as always shall be, one of the best forms of storytelling. Movies that can push a moral about right and wrong are easy ways to go for children’s films, and can be toughened up to work for mature fare. For UNCUT GEMS, the newest film from Josh and Benny Safdie, the shady underworld of gambling and the dealing of imported gems is the background for their troubled main character who can’t tell that difference from right and wrong. 

Howard Ratner (Adam Sandler), is a low-profile jewelry dealer in New York who has a massive amount of gambling debt. He acquires a rare, uncut opal which he looks to auction off for millions. When NBA superstar Kevin Garnett (played by himself), borrows the rock as a good luck charm in his upcoming playoff series, Howard takes Garnett’s championship ring as collateral. 

UNCUT GEMS does not have much by way of plot, and instead follows Howard as he makes one increasingly bad decision after another over the span of less than a week. Immediately after acquiring Garnett’s valuable championship ring for collateral, he pawns it for cash to place a bet on Garnett’s Celtic team. This of course goes south which leaves Garnett keeping Howard’s valuable rock and Howard with no way to get the ring out of the pawn shop. This is just the beginning, as Howard must also duck and run from thuggish collectors, hide his problems from his wife and kid, and figure out how to pay back money and favors he owes to his family and in-laws. 

Howard is asshole, and he knows it, and the film knows it too. UNCUT GEMS is a throwback to the nihilistic movies of the 1970’s, where godless, anti-heroes such as Travis Bickle and Michael Corleone owned the big screens. Unfortunately, this script doesn’t give any backstory or context to Howard’s behavior, which makes it impossible for us to hope that he comes out on top despite his shady dealings and dumb decisions. Why is he an asshole? Was he born that way, or did he have to work at it…and why? It’s all a mystery. He’s a paper-thin, one-dimensional jerk that we don’t mind seeing getting beat up or worse. 

Despite the annoying attributes of Howard, there is still a lot to appreciate in UNCUT GEMS. Editing is sharp, and the building of tension in simple scenes like a stuck door and Howard watching a game on TV is excellent. The film is shot in a dark and gritty style that makes us want to shower after viewing, and some amazing-looking, mystical sequences involving the opal and a medical procedure are fascinating. The film still makes its share of blunders; several characters talk all at once which makes for a huge headache, and when Howard gets stripped naked by collectors and thrown into a car trunk…he is allowed to keep his cell phone so he could easily call for help. Yeah, that’ll teach him a lesson. The script also does the lazy method of using F-bombs, MF-bombs, and N-words every five seconds to try and sound tough…when all it does is seem juvenile. 

Adam Sandler, who has played juvenile his entire career, turns in the performance of his life. He doesn’t look, sound, or act like his old self, and his emotional moments are a shock. Kevin Garnett does very well in front of the camera. Idina Menzel of Broadway and Let It Go fame plays Howard’s wife and is superb, as is Julia Fox as Howard’s on-again, off-again girlfriend. The rest of the cast, including Judd Hirsch, Mike Francesa, Eric Bogosian, and Pom Klementieff are all very good. 

Howard’s string of bad choices eventually catch up with him, despite a light at the end of his self-imposed dark tunnel, and the Safdie Brothers build an incredible climax with a shock of a conclusion. UNCUT GEMS definitely works as a morality tale, and that’s good…but it fails in providing a character we want to see win…and that’s bad. 

BOTTOM LINE: Rent it