Featured Blu-ray and DVD Review: Uncut Gems
March 10, 2020
Uncut Gems - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack
Is Uncut Gems busted Oscar-bait? It seems strange to describe an Adam Sandler movie as Oscar-bait, but the film was released by A24 and given their track record in the few short years they’ve been around, it is not unfair to say it was made to win Oscars. That didn’t happen. On the other hand, it did just get to $50 million before the weekend, which is amazing for a limited release. Is the film as good as its box office numbers? Did it deserve to find more success during Awards Season?
The movie beings in 2010 in Ethiopia at a mine where an accident has happened. Two of the miners use this distraction to sneak into the mine and steal a black opal. We then transition to Howard Ratnar’s butt in 2012. Howard is a jeweler in New York City who is in more than a little bit of trouble. He owes Arno $100,000 and Arno’s sending goons to his office to collect. Howard’s upset at the intrusion into his workplace, as he was embarrassed in front of clients and he has a major deal coming up that should cover all of his expenses.
Howard first goes to the apartment he has for his mistress, Julia, but he gets into an argument with her, because he’s just a nasty person. He then makes $24,000 in bets, despite being $100,000 in debt to a loan shark, then meets with Kevin Garnett. We then find out what this major deal is. He was able to get the black opal that was smuggled out of Ethiopia. He shows it to Kevin Garnett and the guy immediately becomes obsessed with it. Howard agrees to let him borrow it, but takes Garnett’s championship ring as collateral. He then immediately pawns the ring, which he doesn’t own, and uses the money to bet heavy on Garnett having a monster night on the court. If he wins, he will make enough money to cover all of his debts. Does it work out for him? If it did, then this would be a much shorter movie.
I’m of two minds when it comes to Uncut Gems. On the one hand, Adam Sandler gives an award-worthy performance in this movie and he isn’t the only one giving a standout performance. Additionally, there is a real style that the directors, Benny and Josh Safdie, infuse in this movie from time to time. It is a little self-indulgent at times, but it works. At least it works for me.
On the other hand, I didn’t give a damn about Howard Ratnar, or really anyone in the movie. It’s really hard to enjoy a performance when you don’t care if the character lives or dies. None of the conflict matters, because no matter how life and death the stakes are for Howard, I didn’t care how things turned out. Furthermore, there’s no growth for the main character, just an escalation. Therefore, it got repetitive really quickly.
If this was a TV series, I would have stopped watching halfway through the pilot, because there was nothing here to keep me engaged with the story. Great performances and stylish visuals are not enough for me. I need to care about the characters and I just didn’t.
There is only one extra, but it is a 30-minute long making of featurette, so at least it is a substantial extra. I still would have liked more.
I really wanted to like Uncut Gems and I do admit Adam Sandler’s performance was worth watching. However, the film didn’t do anything to make me care about the lead character and I need that to be engaged. The DVD or Blu-ray don’t have enough extras to really lift the replay value.
Video on Demand
Video on Demand (4K Ultra HD)
The Movie
The Extras
The Verdict
Filed under: Video Review, Uncut Gems, Eric Bogosian, Adam Sandler, Josh Safdie, Benny Safdie, Julia Fox, Kevin Garnett