'Uncut Gems': Funnyman Adam Sandler Comes of Age as a Dramatic Actor

What's going to save all his bets is one big grand slam. Because he's gotten hold of a magic rock, a big chunk hewn from a mine in Ethiopia that glitters with opals. In a dazzling opening scene, we visit the mine, then plunge Fantastic Voyage-style deep into the gem's mysterious interior. Then there's a dazzling cut to another passageway — which turns out to be the video of Howard's colonoscopy.

It's a sardonic metaphor for where his glittering vision of a million-dollar score might well lead him, and also a fine example of the film's clever, frenetic cinematography. The whole movie feels like the last part of Goodfellas, when the hero is on a cocaine bender and the camera gets a contact high. Howard's drug of choice is the greed unleashed by that giant uncut gem he got through shady connections and plans to sell at a hoity-toity auction house.

But his acquaintance Kevin Garnett, the pro basketball player (played effortlessly well by the real Garnett), also has passionate feelings for the gemstone in question, and tries to buy it for big bucks before the auction. He needs it for luck on the court. Howard won't sell it for less than his wild-eyed hopes, but he's crazy enough to let Garnett borrow it for a few days, which puts him under pressure from the auctioneers.

And as if that weren't enough, his sinister brother-in-law (the brilliant Eric Bogosian, 66) is demanding the money Howard owes him, right now — though he, too, seems wowed by Howard's astounding boldness in reaching for his dream. Besides, Howard tries to be the best family man he can. He dutifully attends his daughter's school play. When he spots a couple of criminals in the audience who may want him dead and he has to flee, is that Howard's fault?

If Preston Sturges, master of rapid-fire comic dialogue, had written Abel Ferrara's gritty Bad Lieutenant while cribbing from Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets, it wouldn't be any better than this irresistible crime caper flick. And if Sandler doesn't land an Oscar nomination for this, he was robbed.