Of course, Howard has a woman on the side, Julia (Julia Fox), a nice young lady who - what else? - works at his jewelry store and for whom he provides an apartment.
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His wife Dinah (Idina Menzel), who well knows how to deal with her husband, is naturally furious. What should be a calm night out for the Ratner family on the occasion of a school theater presentation morphs into an insane set of events that finds Howard locked nude in the trunk of a car. The writers have concocted any number of outrageous incidents that, in fact, feel real and not gags invented just to be toppers. For his part, however, Howard nearly always has an angle, another card to play - what’s a new day without a fresh fire to put out? Of course, Howard doesn’t get his valued piece of rock back when he expects it, and this is just the beginning of promises not met, debts remaining unpaid, lies mounting to cover the shortcomings and everyone becoming angrier and angrier. The Safdies plunge the audience into the deep end of this world, and it’s easy to be both overwhelmed and seriously put off by the vulgarity of it everyone is brash, it’s the norm for promises and expectations not to be met, feverish yelling is the accepted mode of communication and no day is complete without a new unwelcome incident. Having just acquired it and against his better instincts, Howard lets one of his most valued customers, basketball titan Kevin Garnett, borrow the piece, a misjudgment that sets in motion no end of crises and misfortune. In a brief Ethiopian-set prologue, a football-sized piece of rock is extracted from a mine, and numerous embedded gems are clearly of significant value. The action aside, that’s what makes Uncut Gems truly unnerving.On the other hand, some people get off on this, and for Howard it’s the core of his existence. As much chaotic energy the Safdies often put into their films, they still take care to root it in something real and human. Not just on the events of the film, but the people around them. However, its true brilliance lies in Howard’s characterization. The frenetic editing, cosmic score by Daniel Lopatin, and truly remarkable sleazy performance by Sandler are designed to make you feel uneasy - it’s challenging to get through.
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An apt description could be organized chaos.Īs much as it seems like the movie is going off the rails, it’s clear that the Safdies are always in control. Just one you can’t take your eyes off of. It’s impressive just how much the Safdies are able to make you squirm without making you run out of the theater. But then he always ends up doing something that makes you shake your head.
You admire his sheer will and motivation. Like Pattinson, Sandler plays Howard as a man you can almost root for.
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There’s not as much of a plot as there is a cyclical series of events, which makes it even more uncomfortable to watch - maybe even frustrating. Uncut Gems traverses more time and a more complicated story than Good Time but maintains the same anxiety-inducing momentum. However, when Garnett doesn’t return the gem, Howard must find a way to: get the gem back in time for the auction, get Garnett’s ring back, and find a way to pay his bookies all the while dodging debt collectors, dealing with his wife Dinah (the always fabulous Idina Menzel), and keeping his mistress Julia ( Julia Fox giving a star is born performance) happy. 💌 Sign up for our weekly email newsletter with movie recommendations available to stream. You see, Garnett has become transfixed by a rare opal stone that Howard has recently acquired - he’s planning on selling it through an auction - and asks to take it as a good luck charm for a forthcoming game. So, when he gets the opportunity to use New York Knicks player Kevin Garnett’s championship ring as collateral for a loan, he takes it.
He has a seemingly endless barrage of mobsters and bookies knocking on his door - including his brother-in-law ( Eric Bogosian). Like Good Time, they pick a single direction for the narrative: Howard always makes the wrong decision.Ī lot of that is due to his deep addiction to gambling, which has driven him into a deeper and deeper hole of debt, which he fills with more debt.
He’s the perfect character to study in the situation they put him in. Similarly, they center their latest movie, Uncut Gems - which was the secret screening at this year’s New York Film Festival - on Adam Sandler’s singular Howard Ratner, a diamond-dealer with a heavy propensity to gamble.
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