Despite a career spanning decades, it still seems like a major talking point and surprise when Adam Sandler attempts to do a film outside of his comedic comfort zone. Sandler has been good - and occasionally great - in several movies: "Reign Over Me," "Punch Drunk Love" and "The Meyerowitz Stories" come to mind. He was even talked about for a first Oscar nomination for his frantic performance in 2019's "Uncut Gems" (the nomination was never going to happen, but critics and the internet certainly tried), which should make it less surprising that Sandler can, in fact, be good.
His latest, "Hustle," doesn't show Sandler is any new light because he has channeled the world-weariness of his character Stanley Sugerman before. Stanley is a basketball scout, who is tasked with finding a new stellar new player for his team. While in Spain, Stanley takes immediate notice of Bo Cruz (Juancho Hernangomez), who completely owns the court in a game of street basketball. He convinces Bo to travel back to the United States to hone his skills and hopefully gain a place on a NBA team. Stanley is met with a lot of resistance from the new head of the team (played by Ben Foster), who takes over after his father (played by Robert Duvall) passes away.
"Hustle," merely in its existence, is an interesting movie because it's produced by Sandler's Happy Madison company, which typically makes terrible comedies that give Sandler an excuse to shoot in Hawaii with a bunch of his friends. We've come a long way from the Golden Age of Sandler comedies, and perhaps "Hustle" signals that the actor is interested in taking his company in a new direction. (Sandler really enjoyed picking up awards for "Uncut Gems" - cynical minds wonder if he's trying to capture that again under his own company).
But as a movie, "Hustle" feels too by-the-numbers to make its mark. Sandler guides the film with ease, and director Jeremiah Zagar (who directed the acclaimed 2018 film "We the Animals") brings his in-your-face gritty style to the basketball court scenes.
As it goes with most sports movies, "Hustle" is all about the training montage, in an attempt to build momentum to the final scenes. Zagar keeps the film moving along, even with one-too-many training sequences. When the movie doesn't have you on the court with Stanley and Bo, it has you with Stanley's family, including his wife (played by Queen Latifah), who isn't given much to do but show Stanley support.
"Hustle" is a movie that elicits indifference because there are plenty of note-worthy pieces to a familiar story. Familiarity is okay, it just depends what you do with it - but "Hustle" chooses to follow the rulebook a bit too much.
"Hustle" debuts on Netflix June 8.
Hustle Movie Review By Matthew Passantino
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