![]() ![]() Uncut Gems follows an impulsive man named Howard Ratner - a rich, Jewish jeweler played by Adam Sandler at, arguably, his best - who works in New York City’s Diamond District and only cares about two things: money and the NBA. He didn’t even know about the four other occasions. Earlier in the evening, when I told him that I was going to be watching Uncut Gems again, he was flabbergasted. Last month, during lockdown, I sat down for watch number six as my roommate hung out, uninvolved, in the armchair adjacent to me, focused on his laptop but looking up every now and then to check on the progress of the film I’d already put him through once before. With family, friends, by myself, or in my living room, I have forced myself and others to sit through Howard Ratner’s Wild Ride. ![]() How can you keep watching it?” It’s true, that since the film’s release only five months ago, I have seen the movie seven times. Each time after that, it’s like watching a ballet.Ī friend recently texted me to say, “I know you like Uncut Gems a lot, but that movie is so stressful. It’s an Odyssean voyage through one man’s twenty-four hours of life, a meticulously choreographed dance meant to pull you into Howard’s chaos like everyone else is in the film. We bear witness to his crumbling marriage and his mostly lukewarm relationship with his two sons. We watch him place two ill-advised bets, pawn an expensive ring that doesn’t belong to him, and get roughed up by the men he owes a debt to. We witness his fraught but passionate relationship with his employee/mistress-turned girlfriend Julia. We see him interact with the employees at his shop, KMH Jewelers. ![]() ![]() Then, a brief glimpse at Howard Ratner’s disordered day-to-day life commences. The sparkling swell of the “The Ballad of Howie Bling” leads us on a journey through a precious black opal that transforms into, of all things, a colonoscopy. We enter through the Welo mines of Ethiopia. But the movie is always the same each time, and that’s why I keep coming back - to the dismay, horror, and bewilderment of those closest to me. I’ve also gone to see it by myself, and on one occasion I had a panic attack. Once I was with my parents, the two of them gripping the edges of their seats, my mom turning to look at me and whispering, pained and more than once, “That man really needs to take a vacation.” The mileage varies per person, and friends I’ve expected to like it hated it while others who don’t watch movies very often have been utterly enraptured. Sometimes I’ve been with one friend or two. The film has earned rave reviews from its fall festival screenings, with many critics praising Sandler’s performance as one of his bests (alongside his other dramatic efforts like Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch-Drunk Love and Noah Baumbach’s The Meyerowitz Stories).I’ve watched Uncut Gems a number of times, and each has been a different experience. Uncut Gems also stars Idina Menzel, Lakeith Stanfield, Julia Fox, Eric Bogosian and Judd Hirsch. “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 the film synopsis. Uncut Gems centers on Howard Ratner (Sandler), a charismatic jewelry dealer with many high-profile New York clients, including Kevin Garnett and The Weeknd (both portrayed by themselves in the film). The film opens in wide release December 13th. A24 released the trailer for its highly anticipated new crime film, Uncut Gems, directed by the Safdie brothers ( Heaven Knows What, Good Time) and starring Adam Sandler. ![]()
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