Uncut gems cast pro#

SandlerвЂ™s superb performance shows how Howard has what amounts to a superpower вЂ“ his optimism, his toxic gift of the gab, his deranged delusional cheerfulness and his refusal to be fazed or scared by things that would reduce ordinary people to jelly. Howard is in very deep with an intimidating player called Arno (Eric Bogosian) whose man-mountain goons make an unwelcome appearance at his store. And he is borrowing against future assumed sales or sure-fire gambling wins to make other bets or pay off other creditors.

Uncut gems cast pro#

He has a sideline in taking customersвЂ™ valuable pieces of jewellery for supposed repair (a kitsch figure of the crucified Michael Jackson being a case in point) but actually using them as collateral for huge mob loans that he will then bet on pro sports: usually basketball, with which he is obsessed. He is a compulsive gambling addict whose habit is raging out of control вЂ“ though part of this movieвЂ™s 70s feel lies in the fact that he is never described as an вЂњaddictвЂќ and never recognises himself as such. So things look good for Howard, but thereвЂ™s a problem. Tall tale вЂ¦ Sandler and Lakeith Stanfield with NBA star Kevin Garnett, playing himself. Like vintage 70s horror, Uncut Gems begins with an eerie prologue showing this occult stone being discovered deep underground. Howard is looking to make a fat profit with an illegally imported black opal from Ethiopia, the equivalent of a вЂњblood diamondвЂќ but a stone of mythical import and rarity that fascinates HowardвЂ™s biggest celeb customer: NBA megastar Kevin Garnett (playing himself) who is capriciously convinced that this is an anti-kryptonite rock that guarantees victory on the basketball court. HowardвЂ™s business is doing reasonably well, thanks to a middleman called Demany (great work from Lakeith Stanfield) who brings high net worth individuals from the world of music and sports into HowardвЂ™s store in return for a cut of the sale price Howard takes his own commission for selling DemanyвЂ™s counterfeit Rolexes as certified genuine.

His diamond shop is a heavily fortified, sweaty and airless emporium, protected by a castle-keep system of inner and outer toughened-glass doors opened with a nerve-jangling buzzer. He has now installed his sexy, vocal-fry-toned employee Julia (Julia Fox) in a cheesily decorated bachelor apartment in the city. Howard is semi-separated from his wife Dinah (played by Idina Menzel вЂ“ the voice of FrozenвЂ™s Elsa) and kids, though still importantly embedded in the Jewish customs involved in her family dinners. For me, that was a bit overblown, and in any case Sandler is far better here. Sandler has been known for pretty crass comedies in the past, though polite broadsheet opinion traditionally makes an exception for his performance in Paul Thomas AndersonвЂ™s 2002 film Punch-Drunk Love. The Safdies have cast as their leading man Adam Sandler who gives a glorious, career-best turn as a fast-talking Manhattan diamond dealer called Howard Ratner (dare we hope for a cheeky reference to the British jeweller Gerald?), sporting a black leather jacket, dark glasses, earrings and an ingratiating, unreliable grin.

In its unforced, gripping, black-comic chaos, Uncut Gems resembles nothing so much as a super-violent, feature-length episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. There is a consistency of purpose that their earlier film, Good Time, lacked. It conjures up the work of James Toback and John Cassavetes вЂ“ and indeed early Martin Scorsese, who is an executive producer here. It is directed by the Safdie brothers, Benny and Josh, who create something deliciously horrible, working with their longtime screenwriter-collaborator Ronald Bronstein. T his sensationally good New York crime drama is rocket-fuelled with greed and crack-fumed with fear.