Rating: C+
Dir: Josh Safdie and Benny Safdie.
Star: Adam Sandler, LaKeith Stanfield, Julia Fox, Kevin Garnett.
You should be prepared going in, for what could accurately be described as two and a quarter hours of Jews yelling. It’s certainly a film which feels amped permanently up to eleven, as if every character in it was shotgunning Red Bull. The dramatic elements likely work less well than the thriller aspects as a result, because the shouting there tended to make me tune out. When it comes to ratcheting up the tension though, no complaints. It all stems from the central character, diamond dealer Howard Ratner (Sandler). He has a gambling problem, which has put him deep in debt to some rather unpleasant people, while Howard’s marriage is teetering on the edge of collapse.
He has a plan to escape. This involves selling a rare uncut slab of Ethiopian black opal, with basketball player Kevin Garnett (playing himself) the leading bidder. But Ratner can’t help himself, and instead of repaying his debt, wagers all the money on Garnett, simultaneously locking the thugs sent to collect from him, in the “airlock” entrance to his store. It’s a similar series of poor decisions, fuelled by addiction, as Bad Lieutenant – interestingly, at one point Harvey Keitel was considered instead of Sandler for the lead here. Howard is rather more sympathetic. Or, at least, less of an unrepentant asshole, might be closer to the truth. He’s still a dick, who cheats on his wife, is abusive to his mistress (Fox), and a jerk of a boss.
It is definitely not a typical sort of role for Sandler, and I am here for it. I have a low tolerance for his comedic stylings, which I don’t find at all amusing. This is utterly different, with Ratner almost the complete opposite of the typical Sandler lovable idiot. I’m surprised he hasn’t done more dramatic roles: while he has dabbled, he keeps going back to things like Happy Gilmore 2. Those nine-figure deals with Netflix won’t pay for themselves, I guess. The rest of the cast are more of a mixed bag. Particularly unimpressive was Idina Menzel as Howard’s wife, who comes over as someone who just lost the 2019 Demi Moore lookalike contest, and possesses the appropriate disappointed expression.
There were a number of directorial choices I didn’t particularly like either. One would be, what the hell was The Weeknd doing in this? As celeb stunt cameos go, this certainly ranks among the most pointless. If you’re not up on your basketball and sports betting terms (parleys, lines, etc.), you may well be adrift; the film is too busy yelling, to bother explaining any of that stuff. You largely have to go off Howard’s reactions, as his wagers play out. There is a certain crypto-religious morality on view here – one of the directors said, “The film is about cheating God.” But again, if you’ve seen Bad Lieutenant, how everything pans out is not going to come as the slightest surprise. At least it’s not Jack and Jill, I guess.