Uncut Gems is a very hard movie to review, because it falls in that rare category of movie that I think is really good even though I didn’t actually “like” it all that much. It’s one of those movies that’s devoid of a lot of the entertainment value that most movies have, but that it’s not trying to be entertaining. What it does aim for it succeeds at very well, but it’s kind of hard to recommend a movie to someone with the caveat that they might not enjoy it.

So let’s start with what Uncut Gems is all about for now, and go from there. Uncut Gems is a movie focused entirely on one character named Howard Ratner, and how his manic behavior affects him and those around him. Basically, Howard is one of those guys that’s obsessed with getting the next big score, and he does whatever he needs to in order to get it, even when that means putting himself in danger. We see this early on when someone wants to borrow something from him, Howard asks the guy for collateral, and then proceeds to try and sell that collateral for a profit, while still expecting to get his item back from the guy. He ruins plenty of relationships in the process, but he’ll stop at nothing in order to hit his next target.

I’ll be honest, for about the first third of the movie, I realized I was not having a good time at all, and because of that I was thinking that this was just a straight-up bad movie. I was ready to completely slam it in my review and give it a terrible score, but as the movie progressed I started to feel differently about the whole thing. My enjoyment of the movie never really climbed all that much, but my appreciation for it did as I settled into the groove of what the movie was. So, throughout the second and third acts I was realizing that Uncut Gems may be a better movie than I was giving it credit for.

Here’s the main thing that you need to know about Uncut Gems if you choose to watch it: it’s going to overwhelm you. I found the movie extremely stressful, which is part of the main reason it’s so hard to watch at times. Howard just keeps talking his way through so many situations, and it would stress me out to see how risky he would handle situations. There are so many moments where you just want to shake him and ask him what the hell he thinks he’s doing, but it’s this attitude and demeanor that carry you through the film. You begin to realize that he is single-minded in his pursuit of what he wants, and that he’s going to keep doing what he’s doing.

It’s watching Howard interact in all of the situations that he does that makes it so stressful. One simple example that comes to mind is a small scene where Howard is answering phone calls from people in his office. He’s switching between two or three different lines, and the scene just keeps going, and it makes your head spin. Then, there’s another moment where Howard gets beat up by some people for gambling with their money when he owes them a debt. Rather than learn from this, Howard keeps trying to gamble with their money, and you want to ask him what the hell he thinks he’s doing, because he’s going to get himself killed. It’s this erratic behavior that makes this movie as fascinating as it is, but it’s also what makes it lack the typical kind of enjoyment you’ll find in a movie.

I think there needs to be a discussion Adam Sandler’s performance in the role of Howard, though. Some people are calling this the best performance of his entire career, and that could likely be. However, I think it’s being blown a little out of proportion. For starters, people are acting like Adam Sandler’s never been a good actor, and that this is some crazy turn for him. Adam Sandler has always been a good actor, he just doesn’t typically star in movies that show off his acting abilities. However, I’ve seen him in other dramatic roles like Punch-Drunk Love where he really excels, and I’d even argue that a lot of his earlier comedic performances like Billy Madison are still really good. He’s been in a lot of bad movies, but it’s not like this is the first time he’s ever gave a good performance. Also, while I will say that this was a good performance, I don’t think it’s Oscar-worthy. I think a lot of people are overhyping this performance precisely because it’s an Adam Sandler performance, and people are so shocked that he delivered a good performance that they’re claiming it’s more special than it actually is.

Anyway, this is a hard movie to recommend because of what kind of movie it is. There are a lot of people out there that want to watch a movie just to be entertained, and I think that’s perfectly valid. For those people, I definitely don’t recommend Uncut Gems. It’s a hard movie to get through, and it makes you feel bad when you watch it. I’ve seen a lot of polarizing opinions on the movie, and this is why I think both sides are perfectly valid in feeling the way that they do. I can completely understand anyone saying they didn’t enjoy it, but the movie also really excels at what it sets out to do, so I understand why others think it’s on the level of a masterpiece. Personally, there’s a lot of different things I tend to want out of movies, and so Uncut Gems satisfied some of those things for me, but not others. This is why I’m definitely way more “middle-of-the-road” on this movie than some others have been. I think it’s great, but I also didn’t really like it, which seems like a paradoxical sentence, but in this case it isn’t.

3.5/5