They can’t kill you if you’re already dead.
This sentiment applies to both vampires and critics’ quickly dissipating disillusionment with he who they long-wrote off as the mere Lorne-adored jester perennially content to be the malcontent. It’s also a quote from the latest Adam Sandler movie to defy the natural order, so who’s laughing now?
The argument can be made Hustle – Netflix’s Number One film currently, and “The Sandman’s” best-performing film with Rotten Tomatoes audience scoring (91%) – is actually Sandler’s fourth basketball movie. His Chanukah-celebrating, town drunk youth rec referee foray (Eight Crazy Nights); the hangout haven that begins and ends on the court (Grown Ups); and his pace-changing, uncut gem of a heart-pounder that ping-pongs you between pace-and-peacemaking every time the parlay party kicks back around (Uncut Gems) all built to this moment: where Sandler could feel comfortable mixing Happy Madison business with sneaky thespian pleasure.
Though the lattermost mentioned film was categorically “prestige,” it was nevertheless a turning point in the goofball extraordinaire’s illustrious leading man legend that’s also spawned the occasional “for your consideration” frenzy. A Punch-Drunk Love here, some The Meyerowitz Stories there, with Reign Over Me and Funny People mixed in for good measure. But post-“Gems” (and Covid), the rage of Oscar-bitter Internet users personally slighted by Sandler’s best actor nomination omission especially rallied together to complete the most effective propaganda.
As a result, a sense became instilled in Sandler, who will also soon plug the sci-fi drama Spaceman from Chernobyl director Johan Renck, wherein he plays the first Czechoslovakian national to successfully say “yes” to space travel. Tackling a project like this speaks to his unparalleled openness for drama beyond once-in-a-blooming-onion. And if the times are to be bluntly assessed, blindly reelin’ in the years has never seemed less a sure thing – with quite a few of his contemporary comedy brothers-in-arms recently passing. Such circumstantially calls to mind the wonders a matured Sandman has proven to do with the platforms he’ll always be afforded: “Chris Farley Song,” anyone?
Plus: what better way to put his understated dramatic focus at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts to use than through work work work? Yes sir, yes sir!
Sandler co-produced Hustle for Netflix alongside LeBron James and Co. with the full cooperation of the NBA on an R-rated family joint that’s not too sanitized, and not too unsavory, either. All the while, he wielded absolute creative fortitude not just as a talent, but as a seasoned set-runner. Despite tabbing an Oscar-nominated screenwriter (Will Fetters, A Star is Born) and cameoing chums Dan Patrick and Shaquille O’Neal to play their sports commentator selves instead of wacky Sandlerverse side characters as per usual, the Emmy-winning SNL-boy-made-$4 billion-at-the box-office good operates under the subsidized-no-more “Happy Madison, Inc.” moniker here.
A cardboard cutout of his late father, Stanley, still gobsmacks a golf ball screaming forward until it cracks the lens before he utters “..terrific.” This, of course, is the table-setting intro presented before most of Sandler’s 21st century-released comedy classics, including the Central Intelligently-superior direct-to-streaming The Do-Over (2016) – yes, any film that can deploy “Crazy for You” by Madonna like that is a bona fide beaut upon arrival.
Fans who may have been left with more than a dose of agita from the rat-a-tat-tat Uncut Gems overwhelm, therefore, need not worry this may not be their or their father’s Sandler. It’s him, warts and all, simply dialing it up a notch – because he believes you deserve it. And sure knows you are worthy, too.
Nothing better declares Hustle a true Sandlerian exercise than the montaged blitz assault of various fast-food staples synonymous with the early Happy Madison oeuvre his globe-trotting Philadelphia 76ers scout character consumes in mass quantities over the opening credits sequence. Life on the road is spent playing time-killers like “three strikes” with Wendy and The Colonel, after all. An appointment to the coaching bench may have eluded the aptly-named Stanley Sugerman due to a mysteriously checkered past you know they’ll eventually get into (“what’s up with his hand?”). But the sheer reality is communicated by the film’s spoiled heir to the throne antagonist, Vince Merrick (Ben Foster, Alpha Dog): Sandler-as-Stanley is valuable as a coach, but indispensable as a scout. So much so, he is driven to survivalist mode to find the next diamond in the rough.
In Uncut Gems, he was the charismatic buffoon Howard “Howie Bling” Ratner – the high-stakes jeweling sports-betting addict who never met a mistake he didn’t make full-tilt. Whereas, in Hustle, despite the titular indication we’re dabbling in broad gamesmanship levels of gambling by way of “hustling” this time around, his family man sincerity is no front. He wears it all on the rotating polo sleeve and then some as a means to run away from the one mistake he made in a lifetime of collecting high-profile colleagues and kinetic confidants. And yet, it always catches up to him—and that’s life.
What drives Stanley to go that extra mile: “the best month of his life” spent fostering otherworldly output from the best natural input he has encountered in an amateur unknown. Bo Cruz (Juancho Hernangómez, of the Utah Jazz, pictured below) steals the movie in scenes he does not share with Kermit (Anthony Edwards of the Minnesota Timberwolves). The modern-day Jesus Shuttlesworth had no acting experience prior, yet demands your attention and another role – perhaps one that isn’t courtside. Tears never seemed so genuine, because his and ours most definitely were.
The film is as formulaic as it gets, but who cares? A recent comparable in Ben Affleck’s The Way Back couldn’t hold this one’s jock. In fact, Hustle more so echoes Steven Soderbergh’s iPhone-shot High Flying Bird – method-made to speak to the sports world as we know it today. Both films demonstrate the old guard’s tendency to overlook true talent, and thus viral bursts and #hashtag campaigns must be called upon to save the day.
Local Long Islanders will surely enjoy one scene in the film where Bo goes pick-up head-to-head with Islip-born Half Hollow Hills West alum, Tobias Harris of the 76ers. Queen Latifah, Robert Duvall, Kenny Smith, Saturday Night Live’s Heidi Gardner, and Julius “Dr. J” Erving also star.
Flooded with colorful offers galore like never before in the aftermath of “Gems,” it’s reassuring to see Sandler satisfy the best of both his worlds with this vehicle. Hustle allows Sandler to keep his voice while paying tribute to paternal figures the world over just in time for Father’s Day. Two-fold: he can also continue to check off the “this is what I really got” box. Though this isn’t anything new to his staunchest follower-base. By their calculations, he’s possessed cinematic chutzpah from the onset.
…and we’re reaping all of the benefits.
