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Review: Uncut Gems (2019)
This was a stressful movie. Not that it was a bad movie, but its style was very noisy and fast-paced and sometimes a bit claustrophobic. So it was an interesting movie but it made me anxious. Still would recommend giving it a watch though.
Spoilers.
Story
The movie followed Howard Ratner as he tried to recover money to pay back Arno, a loan shark. The money he had borrowed was used to smuggle a black opal from Africa. The day it arrived, Kevin Garnett (the basketball player) was in his shop. He liked the black opal so much and asked to borrow it, much to Howard’s reluctance. He took Garnett’s championship ring as collateral, and immediately took it to a pawn shop, using the money to place bets on Garnett’s game.
While Garnett did well in his game, he kept the black opal, which Howard was supposed to pick up from Demany (a client recruiter) at a Weeknd concert. At the concert, Howard caught Julia in the washroom with The Weeknd and they got into a fight. He threw Julia out of his apartment. Julia insisted that she was trying to close a deal with the Weeknd but it was unclear what she dealt.
Howard was dealing with problems with his family too. His relationship with his wife Dinah was rocky and he was carrying on with his mistress Julia who was also his employee. At his daughter’s school play, both he and his son were caught up in betting on basketball. He caught sight of two of the enforcers that helped Arno, which freaked Howard out. He tried to run away but he was threatened by Arno, stripped and stuffed into his trunk. His wife had to come get him. And after the play, his daughter was very unenthused with his false words of praise.
At a Passover dinner, it was revealed that Arno was Howard’s brother-in-law. He heard about the black opal so he figured Howard would be coming into money. Having his fight with Julia, Howard asked Dinah if they could try things again but she refused. On the way back from the dinner, they stopped by Howard’s apartment with Julia to check that Julia was gone. While borrowing a neighbour’s washroom, Howard’s son heard about him keeping a woman there which made Howard very uncomfortable.
Garnett finally returned the black opal to Howard. Garnett really wanted to keep it because he thought it gave him good luck but Howard couldn’t let him because he had promised for it to be auctioned. Howard forgot to get the championship ring to return to him and promised he would do it later. The whole ordeal soured things between Garnett and Demany, who was responsible for bringing clients in and Demany made a mess of his office. Howard rushed the black opal over to the auction house, and he replaced Garnett’s championship ring at the pawn ship with his own memorabilia championship ring, though he was losing money on it.
The auction house appraised the black opal to be much lower than what Howard had expected which made him very angry. Howard asked his father-in-law Gooey to help artificially drive up the price since he knew Kevin Garnett would be at the auction trying to buy it as well. It didn’t work, and Gooey ended up having to buy the black opal, but Howard would later get in touch with Kevin Garnett’s people to arrange a sale.
Garnett finally brought the money, minus a cut as commission for Demany. Howard snuck the money out to Julia for her to take it to a casino to bet on Garnett’s game. This angered Arno and his enforcers. On their way out to catch Julia, they got stuck in Howard’s security trap so he kept them there.
Julia successfully placed the bid and evaded the people that were supposed to catch her. The Celtics won the game and Garnett performed very well, winning Howard $1.2 million. When Howard finally let Arno and his enforcers back in, however, the enforcers shot Howard and decided to ransack his jewellery store. Arno was shocked and tried to leave but he was shocked too. The movie ended with Julia bringing the money back.
The entire movie was very nerve wracking because Howard desperately needed money, but it conflicted with the way he saw every gamble as an opportunity. While the average person would have taken Garnett’s money and just given it to Arno, he had to win big. The movie ended on a purposefully unsatisfying end. What will happen to the money? Is Julia just going to be super rich now? What about Dinah and the kids? Both Howard and Arno are dead and they were in the same family. It’s extremely messy. And that’s the point. Both Howard and Arno were in dangerous lines of business and they brought danger to the people around them.
Production
I mentioned that this movie felt very chaotic and I think that was the point, to give us a sense of anxiety. Only, Howard didn’t now that he was constantly anxious. He used the rush from gambling to cover up that anxiety. I’d say that Adam Sandler did a good job in portraying this kind of character who thought that everything was going to okay, he was constantly hustling and he figured that things would always work out. He just never realized that there was an end.
Characters
Howard Ratner
Our main character. It took us a bit of time to piece together who he was and when we did, we would see that unfortunately it was his vices that shaped and guided him. In particular, he was never content with what he had and always wanted more. He originally borrowed money from Arno to smuggle the black opal because he thought he would earn a million dollars on it. We saw that he constantly put whatever money he had on gambling. I can kind of understand the first bet, when he had pawned the championship ring and put the money on gambling because he was still struggling to find $100,000. It was risky but it was logical given his personality.
Understandably he was upset when the opal was appraised to be much lower than what he’d expected. He got greedy with the bidding war with Garnett and they ended up losing on it. But still, Howard figured he could get something by offering it to Garnett separately. But what did he do with the money immediately after he got it? No, he didn’t set aside money to give back to Arno, he snuck it out via Julia, who had to take a helicopter to a casino to place a massive bet. The average person would never have done it. But Howard lets himself get swept up in his grand ideas, his great opportunities. When they work out, it’s great. When it doesn’t, he thinks he can just do something to make up for it. But it reached a breaking point with Arno’s enforcement who were tired of his antics. His wife was tired of his antics too, but the worst that could happen with her was divorce. But we saw that while his older son was into gambling as he was, his younger son felt ignored when he was busy watching basketball instead of putting him to sleep. His daughter didn’t care much for his hollow words either because she knew he wasn’t sincere.
So ultimately Howard was a guy who let his gambling addiction get the better of him. It was alright before when he had his own money from his business, but once he started involving other people, then it got bad.
Arno Meradian
Arno was a loan shark and Howard’s brother-in-law. Their father-in-law Gooey mentioned that he didn’t really like Arno much, that he was distant. So Howard seemed to be the more favoured son-in-law. It did put Arno in a slightly more sympathetic position. Not that he wasn’t kind of justified to begin with, chasing down the money he’d lent Arno.
However, remember that Arno was a loan shark, which meant he was a bit predatory and also a bit aggressive in his ways. He hired enforcers to intimidate Howard, which they did at his daughter’s school play. So he wasn’t afraid to play dirty.
He was a little interested in the basketball game because Howard had forcibly gambled his money. However, he just wanted his money back. He didn’t count on Phil being done with Howard’s shit and killing him, which understandably freaked him out. He tried to run away and was killed as well.
While I think Arno was more justified in this situation, just wanting his money back, I needed to step back and remind myself that he too was in a dangerous line of business. And he was definitely content just to receive his share of the money back, but he involved himself with dangerous people who had had enough.
Dinah Ratner
Dinah was Howard’s soon to be ex-wife. They still lived together with their kids, but it was clear that she didn’t like his antics. She wanted him to still be a dad but he was not even that. He was hooked on gambling on basketball and would neglect putting his younger son to sleep. And for his older son, he would encourage his gambling.
They went as a family to their daughter’s school play. Dinah was making small talk with the other parents while Howard was completely unengaged which did not look good. And she was really exasperated when she had to go out in the middle of the play to let Howard out of the trunk.
At the Passover dinner, Howard tried to reconcile with Dinah. Dinah laughed, so it seemed like they were on good terms, but she reiterated that she was done with Howard and everything to do with him. She would not be convinced by his brief moment of lucidity.
Dinah knowing Howard’s situation, did take him seriously when he called her very panicked and told her to leave the house for her safety. She would always put her kids first.
Julia De Fiore
Julia was Howard’s employee and his mistress. They seemed to be on good terms despite Howard’s hot and cold behaviour.
They had a fight because Howard caught Julia in the washroom with The Weeknd and thought she was going to cheat on him. Julia said that she was working on closing a deal, but it was unclear what her side hustle was. Did she deal drugs? Maybe. Because of the fight, Howard told her to vacate the apartment, and she did and sent him a real estate listing, but Howard had to go back to the apartment to check himself. He shut it down when his son asked about a girl living in his apartment.
Julia was still worried about Howard, especially when he went back to the office all beat up. She showed him that she got a tattoo of his name on her so she was in it for life. Or maybe she just did a dumb thing to get back in his good books. But she tried to comfort him and they seemed to be back on. Especially since at that point Dinah would have rejected him.
Julia helped Howard smuggle the money from the deal with Kevin Garnett and she had to fly all the way to the casino, which I googled was in Connecticut. How would you even find someone to fly you on demand? Anyway, Julia did seem sincerely invested on Howard’s behalf. She didn’t know anything about bets but she just wanted Garnett to do well for the sake of the bet. The helicopter pilot kept hitting on her and she gave in to visit his room only to avoid Arno’s enforcers who had come looking for her.
At the end of the night, Julia took home the winnings, but she won’t know what she’s coming back to 😬
Kevin Garnett
Kevin Garnett played a version of himself in his movie. Demany brought him to Howard’s jewellery store. At the same time, Howard received his black opal and he got excited and showed it to Garnett. Garnett took a liking to it and wanted to have it, which Howard would not allow because he was going to send it to the auction house. The result was that Garnett would borrow it in exchange for his championship ring. Howard put a bet on the next game which Garnett did very well on. However, Arno had put a stop to his bet so he didn’t win any money.
Afterwards it was a struggle to get the black opal back from Garnett who was playing in Philadelphia for the next game. Demany kept beating around the bush and telling Howard that he’d get the black opal but he wouldn’t. Garnett was reluctant to part with the black opal because he saw it as a good luck charm. Eventually, Garnett did bring it back. Howard slipped up because he didn’t bring back Garnett’s championship ring but he promised he would. But Howard really needed the black opal back to take it to the auction house.
Garnett went to the auction house to buy it with someone who represented him. But when they were close to $200,000, she stopped him from going further. I honestly find it a little tough to believe that he would, given he was so hung up on the black opal because of its good luck properties, but it was more of a plot device to show that everything was going bad for Howard. But Howard still sought out Garnett to sell the black opal for the price point he wanted, which was $175,000, less a commission for Demany.
Garnett was a bit huffed at the hard time Howard was giving him. I think he though Howard was way too hung up on the black opal and it gave Garnett bad vibes. But like, what can you do. Garnett did do something iffy by borrowing something very expensive and not returning it. But anyway after the exchange of money, Howard tried to hype up Garnett and tell him he’d bet all his money on his next game.
And in the next game, Garnett did do very well. Garnett did so well with nothing but the $175,000 rock and some words of motivation from Howard, but Howard lost everything without the rock but with all the money.
Demany
Demany was a client recruiter for Howard. He would bring clients to Howard’s shop, since his was something of a private shop. He had introduced Kevin Garnett to Howard’s shop and was the go-between for them. He was wary when Howard first asked for the championship ring as collateral for the black opal but Garnett agreed.
Afterwards, Howard would go through Demany to get to Garnett to get the black opal back. Several times, Demany would say he would have the black opal and he wouldn’t have it, which obviously upset Howard. Eventually after Garnett returned the black opal, Demany was unhappy with how Howard was giving them a hard time and he severed their business relationship. He said he’d take his clients elsewhere and he ruined Howard’s aquarium on the way out.
I don’t think Howard was necessarily wrong in wanting his things to be secured, but I think if he handled business with more tact, then it would have been nicer to work with him, and that was probably what Demany was looking for.
Phil
Phil was Arno’s main enforcer. He was the one who was constantly tailing Howard, to the point of going to his daughter’s school play. He also came to Howard’s jewellery store and was stuck in the security door. After being let out, Phil was incredibly frustrated and he shot Howard and told his people to take the jewellery for their troubles. When Arno tried to escape, Phil shot him too.
I guess the reason Phil was an enforcer for a shady person was because he had nothing to lose. All he was getting from this job was probably a fee from Arno. And all this run around was probably not worth it. Well, maybe the run around and stalking was par for the course, but being locked in was probably the tipping point. He didn’t care about the fee anymore, he just wanted to be free from these two goofs.
Themes
I guess the main theme was how Howard’s gambling addiction pushed him to make extremely risky and illogical moves that put him in danger without him even realizing. When he discussed gambling with Garnett, he was saying how he was always wanting more. But his kind of more was different from that of an athlete. And Howard was completely unaware of the danger he was putting himself in, even at death. He thought everything was going to be okay, not because his debt would be cleared, but simply because he won big. He didn’t even know what hit him when Phil shot him.
Overall
Good movie but like I said, it gave me a sense of anxiety so just be prepared.
Spoilers.
Story
The movie followed Howard Ratner as he tried to recover money to pay back Arno, a loan shark. The money he had borrowed was used to smuggle a black opal from Africa. The day it arrived, Kevin Garnett (the basketball player) was in his shop. He liked the black opal so much and asked to borrow it, much to Howard’s reluctance. He took Garnett’s championship ring as collateral, and immediately took it to a pawn shop, using the money to place bets on Garnett’s game.
While Garnett did well in his game, he kept the black opal, which Howard was supposed to pick up from Demany (a client recruiter) at a Weeknd concert. At the concert, Howard caught Julia in the washroom with The Weeknd and they got into a fight. He threw Julia out of his apartment. Julia insisted that she was trying to close a deal with the Weeknd but it was unclear what she dealt.
Howard was dealing with problems with his family too. His relationship with his wife Dinah was rocky and he was carrying on with his mistress Julia who was also his employee. At his daughter’s school play, both he and his son were caught up in betting on basketball. He caught sight of two of the enforcers that helped Arno, which freaked Howard out. He tried to run away but he was threatened by Arno, stripped and stuffed into his trunk. His wife had to come get him. And after the play, his daughter was very unenthused with his false words of praise.
At a Passover dinner, it was revealed that Arno was Howard’s brother-in-law. He heard about the black opal so he figured Howard would be coming into money. Having his fight with Julia, Howard asked Dinah if they could try things again but she refused. On the way back from the dinner, they stopped by Howard’s apartment with Julia to check that Julia was gone. While borrowing a neighbour’s washroom, Howard’s son heard about him keeping a woman there which made Howard very uncomfortable.
Garnett finally returned the black opal to Howard. Garnett really wanted to keep it because he thought it gave him good luck but Howard couldn’t let him because he had promised for it to be auctioned. Howard forgot to get the championship ring to return to him and promised he would do it later. The whole ordeal soured things between Garnett and Demany, who was responsible for bringing clients in and Demany made a mess of his office. Howard rushed the black opal over to the auction house, and he replaced Garnett’s championship ring at the pawn ship with his own memorabilia championship ring, though he was losing money on it.
The auction house appraised the black opal to be much lower than what Howard had expected which made him very angry. Howard asked his father-in-law Gooey to help artificially drive up the price since he knew Kevin Garnett would be at the auction trying to buy it as well. It didn’t work, and Gooey ended up having to buy the black opal, but Howard would later get in touch with Kevin Garnett’s people to arrange a sale.
Garnett finally brought the money, minus a cut as commission for Demany. Howard snuck the money out to Julia for her to take it to a casino to bet on Garnett’s game. This angered Arno and his enforcers. On their way out to catch Julia, they got stuck in Howard’s security trap so he kept them there.
Julia successfully placed the bid and evaded the people that were supposed to catch her. The Celtics won the game and Garnett performed very well, winning Howard $1.2 million. When Howard finally let Arno and his enforcers back in, however, the enforcers shot Howard and decided to ransack his jewellery store. Arno was shocked and tried to leave but he was shocked too. The movie ended with Julia bringing the money back.
The entire movie was very nerve wracking because Howard desperately needed money, but it conflicted with the way he saw every gamble as an opportunity. While the average person would have taken Garnett’s money and just given it to Arno, he had to win big. The movie ended on a purposefully unsatisfying end. What will happen to the money? Is Julia just going to be super rich now? What about Dinah and the kids? Both Howard and Arno are dead and they were in the same family. It’s extremely messy. And that’s the point. Both Howard and Arno were in dangerous lines of business and they brought danger to the people around them.
Production
I mentioned that this movie felt very chaotic and I think that was the point, to give us a sense of anxiety. Only, Howard didn’t now that he was constantly anxious. He used the rush from gambling to cover up that anxiety. I’d say that Adam Sandler did a good job in portraying this kind of character who thought that everything was going to okay, he was constantly hustling and he figured that things would always work out. He just never realized that there was an end.
Characters
Howard Ratner
Our main character. It took us a bit of time to piece together who he was and when we did, we would see that unfortunately it was his vices that shaped and guided him. In particular, he was never content with what he had and always wanted more. He originally borrowed money from Arno to smuggle the black opal because he thought he would earn a million dollars on it. We saw that he constantly put whatever money he had on gambling. I can kind of understand the first bet, when he had pawned the championship ring and put the money on gambling because he was still struggling to find $100,000. It was risky but it was logical given his personality.
Understandably he was upset when the opal was appraised to be much lower than what he’d expected. He got greedy with the bidding war with Garnett and they ended up losing on it. But still, Howard figured he could get something by offering it to Garnett separately. But what did he do with the money immediately after he got it? No, he didn’t set aside money to give back to Arno, he snuck it out via Julia, who had to take a helicopter to a casino to place a massive bet. The average person would never have done it. But Howard lets himself get swept up in his grand ideas, his great opportunities. When they work out, it’s great. When it doesn’t, he thinks he can just do something to make up for it. But it reached a breaking point with Arno’s enforcement who were tired of his antics. His wife was tired of his antics too, but the worst that could happen with her was divorce. But we saw that while his older son was into gambling as he was, his younger son felt ignored when he was busy watching basketball instead of putting him to sleep. His daughter didn’t care much for his hollow words either because she knew he wasn’t sincere.
So ultimately Howard was a guy who let his gambling addiction get the better of him. It was alright before when he had his own money from his business, but once he started involving other people, then it got bad.
Arno Meradian
Arno was a loan shark and Howard’s brother-in-law. Their father-in-law Gooey mentioned that he didn’t really like Arno much, that he was distant. So Howard seemed to be the more favoured son-in-law. It did put Arno in a slightly more sympathetic position. Not that he wasn’t kind of justified to begin with, chasing down the money he’d lent Arno.
However, remember that Arno was a loan shark, which meant he was a bit predatory and also a bit aggressive in his ways. He hired enforcers to intimidate Howard, which they did at his daughter’s school play. So he wasn’t afraid to play dirty.
He was a little interested in the basketball game because Howard had forcibly gambled his money. However, he just wanted his money back. He didn’t count on Phil being done with Howard’s shit and killing him, which understandably freaked him out. He tried to run away and was killed as well.
While I think Arno was more justified in this situation, just wanting his money back, I needed to step back and remind myself that he too was in a dangerous line of business. And he was definitely content just to receive his share of the money back, but he involved himself with dangerous people who had had enough.
Dinah Ratner
Dinah was Howard’s soon to be ex-wife. They still lived together with their kids, but it was clear that she didn’t like his antics. She wanted him to still be a dad but he was not even that. He was hooked on gambling on basketball and would neglect putting his younger son to sleep. And for his older son, he would encourage his gambling.
They went as a family to their daughter’s school play. Dinah was making small talk with the other parents while Howard was completely unengaged which did not look good. And she was really exasperated when she had to go out in the middle of the play to let Howard out of the trunk.
At the Passover dinner, Howard tried to reconcile with Dinah. Dinah laughed, so it seemed like they were on good terms, but she reiterated that she was done with Howard and everything to do with him. She would not be convinced by his brief moment of lucidity.
Dinah knowing Howard’s situation, did take him seriously when he called her very panicked and told her to leave the house for her safety. She would always put her kids first.
Julia De Fiore
Julia was Howard’s employee and his mistress. They seemed to be on good terms despite Howard’s hot and cold behaviour.
They had a fight because Howard caught Julia in the washroom with The Weeknd and thought she was going to cheat on him. Julia said that she was working on closing a deal, but it was unclear what her side hustle was. Did she deal drugs? Maybe. Because of the fight, Howard told her to vacate the apartment, and she did and sent him a real estate listing, but Howard had to go back to the apartment to check himself. He shut it down when his son asked about a girl living in his apartment.
Julia was still worried about Howard, especially when he went back to the office all beat up. She showed him that she got a tattoo of his name on her so she was in it for life. Or maybe she just did a dumb thing to get back in his good books. But she tried to comfort him and they seemed to be back on. Especially since at that point Dinah would have rejected him.
Julia helped Howard smuggle the money from the deal with Kevin Garnett and she had to fly all the way to the casino, which I googled was in Connecticut. How would you even find someone to fly you on demand? Anyway, Julia did seem sincerely invested on Howard’s behalf. She didn’t know anything about bets but she just wanted Garnett to do well for the sake of the bet. The helicopter pilot kept hitting on her and she gave in to visit his room only to avoid Arno’s enforcers who had come looking for her.
At the end of the night, Julia took home the winnings, but she won’t know what she’s coming back to 😬
Kevin Garnett
Kevin Garnett played a version of himself in his movie. Demany brought him to Howard’s jewellery store. At the same time, Howard received his black opal and he got excited and showed it to Garnett. Garnett took a liking to it and wanted to have it, which Howard would not allow because he was going to send it to the auction house. The result was that Garnett would borrow it in exchange for his championship ring. Howard put a bet on the next game which Garnett did very well on. However, Arno had put a stop to his bet so he didn’t win any money.
Afterwards it was a struggle to get the black opal back from Garnett who was playing in Philadelphia for the next game. Demany kept beating around the bush and telling Howard that he’d get the black opal but he wouldn’t. Garnett was reluctant to part with the black opal because he saw it as a good luck charm. Eventually, Garnett did bring it back. Howard slipped up because he didn’t bring back Garnett’s championship ring but he promised he would. But Howard really needed the black opal back to take it to the auction house.
Garnett went to the auction house to buy it with someone who represented him. But when they were close to $200,000, she stopped him from going further. I honestly find it a little tough to believe that he would, given he was so hung up on the black opal because of its good luck properties, but it was more of a plot device to show that everything was going bad for Howard. But Howard still sought out Garnett to sell the black opal for the price point he wanted, which was $175,000, less a commission for Demany.
Garnett was a bit huffed at the hard time Howard was giving him. I think he though Howard was way too hung up on the black opal and it gave Garnett bad vibes. But like, what can you do. Garnett did do something iffy by borrowing something very expensive and not returning it. But anyway after the exchange of money, Howard tried to hype up Garnett and tell him he’d bet all his money on his next game.
And in the next game, Garnett did do very well. Garnett did so well with nothing but the $175,000 rock and some words of motivation from Howard, but Howard lost everything without the rock but with all the money.
Demany
Demany was a client recruiter for Howard. He would bring clients to Howard’s shop, since his was something of a private shop. He had introduced Kevin Garnett to Howard’s shop and was the go-between for them. He was wary when Howard first asked for the championship ring as collateral for the black opal but Garnett agreed.
Afterwards, Howard would go through Demany to get to Garnett to get the black opal back. Several times, Demany would say he would have the black opal and he wouldn’t have it, which obviously upset Howard. Eventually after Garnett returned the black opal, Demany was unhappy with how Howard was giving them a hard time and he severed their business relationship. He said he’d take his clients elsewhere and he ruined Howard’s aquarium on the way out.
I don’t think Howard was necessarily wrong in wanting his things to be secured, but I think if he handled business with more tact, then it would have been nicer to work with him, and that was probably what Demany was looking for.
Phil
Phil was Arno’s main enforcer. He was the one who was constantly tailing Howard, to the point of going to his daughter’s school play. He also came to Howard’s jewellery store and was stuck in the security door. After being let out, Phil was incredibly frustrated and he shot Howard and told his people to take the jewellery for their troubles. When Arno tried to escape, Phil shot him too.
I guess the reason Phil was an enforcer for a shady person was because he had nothing to lose. All he was getting from this job was probably a fee from Arno. And all this run around was probably not worth it. Well, maybe the run around and stalking was par for the course, but being locked in was probably the tipping point. He didn’t care about the fee anymore, he just wanted to be free from these two goofs.
Themes
I guess the main theme was how Howard’s gambling addiction pushed him to make extremely risky and illogical moves that put him in danger without him even realizing. When he discussed gambling with Garnett, he was saying how he was always wanting more. But his kind of more was different from that of an athlete. And Howard was completely unaware of the danger he was putting himself in, even at death. He thought everything was going to be okay, not because his debt would be cleared, but simply because he won big. He didn’t even know what hit him when Phil shot him.
Overall
Good movie but like I said, it gave me a sense of anxiety so just be prepared.