Twenty long years ago, popular comedian Adam Sandler was in serious awards conversation for the first time for his dramatic collaboration with Paul Thomas Anderson in Punch-Drunk Love. Three years ago, a handful of prominent citations and an Independent Spirit Award for Uncut Gems looked like it might finally help him breakthrough to a first Oscar nomination (it did not). Now, Sandler is somewhat unexpectedly making an awards play (sports reference?) again thanks to a surprise SAG nomination for his basketball drama Hustle, which is streaming on Netflix.
Sandler stars as Stanley Sugerman, a scout for the Philadelphia 76ers who becomes tired of missing his daughter’s birthdays each year while he’s traveling throughout Europe or somewhere else in search of the next great talent...
That timing coincides with him finding just that: a Spanish construction worker named Bo Cruz (Juancho Hernangómez) whose height and style give him a major leg up on any opponents. His lack of professional experience, however, forces Stanley to train him so that he could prove to anyone with power that this guy is the real deal.
There are two strange things about Hustle that have nothing to do with one another. The first is that the cast is littered with real-life basketball stars playing themselves despite the fact that the story is entirely fictional, something that will surely delight basketball fans but otherwise does nothing to enhance the viewing experience for those, like this reviewer, with no knowledge whatsoever of the sport. Though he’s not playing himself, basketball star Hernangómez makes his acting debut with this role, one that sees his character follow the typical underdog path.
The more startling factoid is that this is the second feature film from Jeremiah Zagar, which couldn’t look anything less like his first film, We the Animals. Yes, Raúl Castillo makes a brief appearance, but the similarities end there. This is a remarkably different kind of film, one that makes a standard sports drama somewhat more inviting but doesn’t retain any of the stylization or intimacy found in Zagar’s acclaimed debut. This interview indicates Zagar’s initial hesitation and his ability to “reinvent the art of basketball cinematography,” but there isn’t much that truly elevates it from being what it is, a passable sports flick with enough moments of excitement and lightheartedness to keep it going.
But the reason this film is in the conversation at the moment is Sandler. He still fires off a handful of one-liners, mostly about how he thinks Cruz is calling him fat, but he’s not trying to be the comedic center of attention. It’s certainly a competent turn, but hardly one that feels awards-worthy, even in a weak category this year like the Best Actor race has shaped up to be. Ben Affleck had a stronger narrative to break in for The Way Back two years ago, but that was also a considerably more dramatic performance. After all this time making audiences laugh, Sandler is getting a bit more serious, but still not too much. An Oscar nomination for this perfectly fine film and performance would be more of an acknowledgment of his long-standing career and willingness to try new things than a celebration of an enduring or earth-shattering portrayal. B
Hustle is streaming on Netflix.