Uncut Gems (2019)

I loved the Safdies' last film Goodtimes. When the enthusiastic festival reactions came in for their follow up Uncut Gems I started to get excited to see what they would do next. Based on the potential I saw in their work I knew they'd deliver something great and the reaction seemed to confirm it.

I don't know what the hell happened.

As I watched Uncut Gems I kept trying to figure out what was missing for me. While I enjoy how the Safdies tell a story, from the way they frame their narrative, colour and light it, from the dialogue that comes fast and furious, building to a frenetic crescendo near the end which is the sort of scene I would normally eat up. But I wasn't. I was bored. I was frustrated. I struggled to figure out what wasn't working.

In the end I guess what it came down to is the story just wasn't compelling to me. The film never made me care about Sandler's character. Sandler plays an sadder version of the character he always plays and one that I had difficulty mustering any emotion for. His journey through a series of bad choices just wasn't compelling for me. I can admire his work as an actor here. I think his performance is overrated for sure but on a Sandler scale it's some of his better work. But again it wasn't enough to invest me.

At the start of the film he has a problem purely of his own making, a problem for which his solution is likely worse than the problem. But it's not just him. The film is filled with characters who make horrible choices, horror movie running up the stairs instead of out the door choices. Seriously most of the problems here could have been solved if people just acted rationally. Then we watch as that plays out and people scream "fuck you" at each other. I kept waiting for their to be a part of the film where I could begin to break through his shell of awfulness to get into the human underneath, but the film never allows that. It just keeps showing people be awful.

Maybe that's the point. Maybe they are just exploring how awful people can be. Perhaps. That's just not very interesting to me. Or the film never found a point in that which made it interesting for me. I can sit back now having seen it and appreciate the Safdie's skill as film makers but I can't bring myself to want to sit though Uncut Gems again.

Uncut Gems
Starring: Adam Sandler, Kevin Garnett, Idina Menzel, Lakeith Stanfield, Judd Hirsch, Julia Fox, The Weeknd, Eric Bogosian
Directors: Josh Safdie, Ben Safdie
Writers: Ronald Bronstein, Josh Safdie, Ben Safdie