The script needs periodic narration from perhaps a sympathetic friend or family member, a voice that could clarify the situations and, more importantly, give us a break from Sandler's draining energy and madness. For an audience not well versed in the subject of sports betting and the financial tricks being played, the relentless pace, while exciting, is also frequently annoying. Still, his domestic life, does contain issues that allow us to understand exactly what he is destroying in order to feed his greed and enormous ego: his family. I don't believe there's ever been anything quite like Adam Sandler's deep dive into self-destructive neurosis ever before in a movie. Perhaps the movie can best be seen as a case study of mental illness that can have no happy outcome.
UNCUT GEMS comes so close to being a great movie that you wish the screenplay had trusted their audience a bit to not lose interest if occasionally things slowed down for some unseen narrator to comment on this sad little man's life and troubles.
This is a movie that gives us a window into a class of people you're thankful you hardly ever see. Robin Williams could have played Sandler's role, but I can't think of anyone else who could have equaled his artistry.
Review of Uncut Gems
