“Hustle” (2022)
Adam Sandler shines in a so-so basketball drama
“He’s like if Scottie Pippen and a wolf had a baby!”.
As a long time fan of Adam Sandler and with the loose recommendation of my teenage son I watched this without hype, trailers or any real pre-knowledge and was charmed if not entirely won over by this Rocky style sporting drama. The charm for me came from two central performances and one in particular from Adam Sandler that pleasingly blended the comedic gags with the gravitas of his drama acting. I always need more from a comedy film or from a comedic central role and whilst I adore 1996’s Happy Gilmore I’m far more in love with Adam Sandler’s performances in Paul Thomas Anderson’s jarringly awkward and deeply dark Punch Drunk Love in 2002 or the Noah Baumbach directed The Meyerowitz Stories in 2017 or particularly his cat on a hot tin roof angst ridden and shattered performance in the Safdie Brothers directed Uncut Gems two years later. Whilst his performance here, and the film, isn’t in the same quality category of the above named films, he is fantastic and front and centre for the vast majority of this comedic sporting drama.
“Stanley Sugerman” (Adam Sandler). A walking, talking quote machine who also masquerades as a basketball talent scout and coach, Sugerman or “22” in deference to his shirt number from his playing days, he’s the epitome of his ironically delivered line mid-way through the film of “Guys in their 50’s don’t have dreams”. Bearded, a little overweight and immediately shown as the meticulous outsider in a group of fellow talent scouts for the Philadelphia 76ers, he’s also the preferred choice of club owner “Rex Merrick” (Robert Duvall) and the hard working dreamer and polar opposite of the owners son “Vince Merrick” (Ben Foster). Promoted and demoted, his worldwide travels (with huge product placements from KFC, Burger King and Pizza Hut!) take him in search of an uncut gem and when he finds it, he has to cut, shape and polish the rough diamond himself.
Supported by Queen Latifah as long suffering wife “Teresa” or simply “T” and Jordan Hull as his teenage daughter “Alex”, Adam Sandler’s star showing is matched only by the youthful prodigy “Bo Cruz” in the professional sporting hands of NBA star Juancho Hernangomez and in an acting performance that grows alongside both the film and it’s marquee star. Affectionately nicknamed the “Cruz Missile” from his erstwhile mentor and personal coach, Hernangomez really excels as the film hits its Rocky style training stride mid-way through and he finally fits the literal and figurative giant role alongside the headliner. The Rocky references were apparent way before the actual clumsy, if smile inducing, inclusion of a rip off of one of the most famous of all runs from our favourite fictional boxing character, and up those famous Philadelphian steps.
A Netflix film release and directed by Jeremiah Zagar, Hustle is definitely a smile inducing way of spending a couple of cinematic hours and blended well with a more dramatic central performance from Adam Sandler and not simply relying on his scattergun gags. With a wealth of past and present NBA basketball players all playing themselves (and Hall of Famers in abundance), a social media age backdrop to an old and worn rags to riches tale brilliantly aided and abetted by a thumping street/R&B style soundtrack, Hustle was awarded a 8/10 rating from it’s younger core demographic whilst I scored it 2 points lower but a definite hanging, looping buzzer beating 3 pointer from the marquee star, Adam Sandler.
Thanks for reading. My three most recently published spoiler free film appreciations are linked below:
