![]() ![]() Who knows? Maybe proper screenplay construction would demand such escalation, so that the drama becomes more consequential. It makes for a contrast with Bo’s dedication to his own family - to the extent that he gets down in the dumps when his daughter and his mom aren’t nearby.Īgain, it would have been easy to overdo this element of the story, to make Stanley a ruthless careerist who must be brought low before he can realize the error of his ways, and to use this difference in their characters to drive a rift between him and Bo. He knows this - hell, he says it - and yet he can’t help but continue to fixate on work even when he’s back home. Stanley has spent years traveling the world, and as a result has missed a lot of time with his family, with his wife Teresa (Queen Latifah) and aspiring filmmaker daughter Alex (Jordan Hull). There is an idea here, and it’s handled with surprising subtlety. This is not the ostentatious angst of a movie protagonist but the ordinary anxiety of the common man. He expresses that tension in a highly relatable way, however. Here’s a guy who is always tense, whether he’s fretting over something that’s gone wrong with Bo’s development or expressing joy over something that’s gone right. As a result, the actor, who often delights in giving self-aware, hyperstylized turns, delivers an unadorned, shtick-free, surprisingly sincere performance. Stanley Sugerman seems close to the actor’s heart one suspects that someone like Sandler would drop everything to become a scout or an assistant coach for an NBA team (even if it was for the 76ers, rivals to his beloved Knicks). ![]() (Those looking to work on their ball-control skills will find some nifty exercises among the many, many montages.) If you read the script on the page, you might send it back for a rewrite and ask for “more of everything” before it could become a proper movie with proper story beats.Īnd yet, Hustle works, and it works beautifully, thanks to Sandler’s commitment. Much of the film focuses on Bo working out, or Bo playing in games. ![]() There are obstacles at every turn, to be sure, but they’re mild, standard-issue ones. Just like that, Stanley realizes he might have discovered the Next Big Thing, and the film details his painstaking efforts to get Bo noticed by NBA teams. One night in Spain, he chances upon Bo Cruz (played by real-life NBA forward Juancho Hernangómez), an enormously talented 22-year-old construction worker and single dad who regularly destroys everybody on the city’s outdoor public courts, blocking and dunking on them with abandon. Sandler plays Stanley Sugerman, a scout for the Philadelphia 76ers who travels the world scoping out hot-prospect basketball players and diamonds in the rough, evaluating them to see if they might have a future in the NBA. In Jeremiah Zagar’s Netflix sports drama Hustle, however, the authenticity and the honesty finally come together. Whether he’s playing a superstar quarterback in The Longest Yard or a plastic surgeon who strings beautiful women along in Just Go With It, he still basically looks and acts like Adam Sandler. Yes, this might describe the types of characters most movie stars play, but there’s something to Sandler’s never-try-too-hard persona and acting style that lends these films the aura of average-guy fantasy. Occasionally, it involves one of his characters accomplishing a classic Guy Goal: being a great football player, or a stud secret agent, or an irresistible ladies’ man. Sometimes, the wish in question is simply a desire to get away with his pals to some fun new location to shoot a picture. There’s always been a wish-fulfillment quality to Adam Sandler’s films, particularly his comedies. Juancho Hernangómez and Adam Sandler in Hustle. ![]()
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