Uncut Gems (15)*****
Dirs: Josh Safdie, Benny Safdie
With: Adam Sandler, Julia Fox, Kevin Garnett
Runtime: 135 minutes
YOU know when Adam Sandler is bad he is very, very bad (I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry), and when he is good he is excellent (Punch-Drunk Love)? Well, in this New York-set drama from Josh and Benny Safdie (Good Time), the Sandler man is flat out terrific.
Sandler plays Howard Ratner, a jeweller in the middle of the mother and father of a mid-life crisis. But then chaos seems to have been following the hard-gambling, fast-talking, womanising hustler all his days. But now he has a chance of a big score, courtesy of an opal from Africa, if he can just keep all the plates in his life spinning long enough to cash in. This is a white-knuckle ride of a film that never lets up in pace and plot. Howard, as his loathing wife tells him, is the most annoying man you will ever meet. He is also the most indefatigable, taking everything fate sends his way and coming back for more.
At selected cinemas and on Netflix from January 31
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