Benny and Josh Safdie’s “Uncut Gems” has polarized the Telluride Film Festival.
The Safdies are coming off their most successful venture, the Cannes-competing “Good Time,” one of the best movies of 2017, which positioned them as first-rate filmmakers in the international film scene.
“Uncut Gems,” starring Adam Sandler as a New York jewelry merchant caught up in a merciless amount of problems, sounds like my kind of jam: an uncomfortable and frenetic ride through the dark underground of NYC. Shades of ‘70s Scorsese are being mentioned in some of these tweets and reviews. However, not many critics seem to be fully on board with this movie just yet, with IndieWire’s Eric Kohn’s being one of the few critics to have given the film a decisive rave, bestowing upon it a perfect A in his review.
Yes, yes, Adam Sandler rules. But the nerve-rattling fun of UNCUT GEMS is how it synthesizes every Safdie bros movie before it, from GOOD TIME to DADDY LONGLEGS to LENNY COOKE in a mesmerizing chronicle of desperate schemes...think MEAN STREETS meets Preston Sturges. #Telluride
Whereas, others seem to respect the movie’s technical prowess, but are not sure what to make of it:
Matt Neglia @Telluride@NextBestPicture
UNCUT GEMS features Adam Sandler’s best performance to date. However, this movie is loud, deranged and quite frankly, unpleasant at times. It never lets up with its blasting score, and overlapping dialogue screamed so loudly that you care barely make anything out. #Telluride
Adam Sandler and the score are both brilliant in #uncutgems I feel like I might need a few days and about 27 klonopin to talk about the rest #TellurideFilmFestival
UNCUT GEMS is gonna strongly divide people, just like the Safdies’ last film, GOOD TIME. I was entertained. Think TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE meets A SERIOUS MAN... with Adam Sandler as the poor schmuck at the center of it all!
Practical Daddy somehow alive in #Telluride @YrOnlyHope
#UncutGems: Safdie’s take the throbbing, heartracing insanity of #GoodTime, douse it in gasoline & light it up. Cocaine the movie, a stress-inducing, hyperengaging portrait of spiraling desperation. Adam Sandler is ferocious, and unstoppable. #TellurideFilmFestival
People should probably ask their doctor if their heart is healthy enough to see UNCUT GEMS. It was relentless. I feel like I need to be tranquilized. It was real good though.
“Uncut Gems” is first rate. Adam Sandler’s best performance; I say that as a big “Punch Drunk Love” fan. Martin Scorsese exec-produced, and none of his movies feel as cocaine-fueled as this one (even though there is only a flash of cocaine in the movie). #Telluride #Telluride2019
UNCUT GEMS is a masterpiece. Finally a movie that understands basketball > movies.
Jacqueline - ROTTEN TOMATOES WROTE A BOOK!✔@THATJacqueline
The Safdie Bros should hand out Xanax before their films. Edibles, CBD oil, maybe guided meditation?
Seriously their films truly mess with us anxious folks. They come for our necks right from the gate and never let up.#UNCUTGEMS #TellurideFilmFestival
TIFF artistic director Cameron Bailey has had nothing but praise-worthy things to say about “Uncut Gems”, calling it “the most Safdie movie you’ve ever seen. It moves at a breakneck pace. It’s cranked up to 11 the whole time, it’s exhilarating to watch, Adam Sandler gives his very best performance since ‘Punch-Drunk Love.’”
I will be watching “Uncut Gems” at its TIFF premiere in T-minus 9 days.
A24 releases the film in select theaters on December 13.
Cory Finley, a talented filmmaker, has directed three films so far: "Thoroughbreds" (2017), "Bad Education” (2020), and "Landscape with Invisible Hand.”