Uncut Gems makes you feel like you need to lie down afterwards. Adam Sandler played Howard Ratner perfectly. He spends the entire film borrowing money, placing bets, arguing with people, and somehow making every terrible decision feel like it might work for another five minutes.
It’s not exactly your Die Hard type movie with massive explosions or expensive action sequences. Most of the film is people talking in jewelry shops, cars, apartments, and betting locations around New York. It really does look like a budget movie, with everything having a bit of grungy New York City vibes.
And yet somehow you’re tense for basically the entire two hours. It really is a clever film. The directors, the Safdie brothers, built that horrible, brilliant gambling atmosphere mostly through sound, camera work, real locations, and Howard being completely incapable of stopping.
The Crime Thriller Classic: Uncut Gems
Uncut Gems, released in 2019, follows jeweler Howard in New York’s Diamond District.
The story plot is that Howard finds a rare Ethiopian opal and loans it to NBA player Kevin Garnett, and then starts juggling everything from debts to bets, and he always has people chasing him who really want their money back.
Adam Sandler is also so good in the role that you almost forget you’re watching Adam Sandler. It’s not his usual slapstick comedies and lovable man-child characters he’s known for, but it’s still Adam Sandler.
The Safdies spent around 10 years trying to get the film made, and the story was partly inspired by their father’s time working in the Diamond District.
The Nerve-Wracking High-Stakes Gambling Atmosphere
The gambling is obviously important. It really feels like backstreet New York, with people talking over each other constantly, phones ringing, doors buzzing, and someone who is always waiting for Howard or shouting at him to ask where the money is. Everything just feels slightly stressful.
The soundtrack doesn’t exactly help you relax either. Daniel Lopatin’s score is loud and electronic and sometimes almost feels like it’s competing with the dialogue.
Then there are the actual bets. The Safdies worked around real NBA schedules and Kevin Garnett’s career so the gambling scenes could sit inside genuine basketball history.
They eventually placed the story in 2012, which was an elaborate six-leg parlay bet on a 2012 Eastern Conference playoff game between the Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers, a similar bet that you could put on now if you looked through Unbiased online casino reviews and found a casino sports betting platform.
How They Achieved the High-Stakes Gambling Atmosphere on a Low Budget
Uncut Gems cost around $19 million to make. It’s still a lot of money, not really a blockbuster, considering you’ve got Adam Sandler and New York Streets.
The Safdies had already spent years making films around New York with small crews and real locations. Even with Uncut Gems, they wanted the Diamond District to feel like the actual Diamond District rather than a polished Hollywood version.
For street scenes, they mixed extras with real people on 47th Street, so everything still looked busy and slightly unpredictable. Even The Weekend featured at one point. Howard’s jewelry shop was a set, but they built the hallway, showroom, and back room as one connected space. Characters could actually move through it properly, and the camera could follow the chaos rather than everything feeling like separate rooms stitched together.
They also shot with extremely long lenses, sometimes from far away, which helps scenes feel like you’re spying on Howard rather than standing neatly beside him.
Go and watch Uncut Gems if you haven’t already. It’s only 7 years old, but it feels like a classic that’s so much older. It’s such a good Friday night movie night or Sunday sofa day film to put on.
