Film Review: "Hustle"

The recent career trajectory of Adam Sandler has been very interesting to watch unfold. Films like “Uncut Gems” showed audiences there’s more to him than meets the eye as a performer. His latest film on Netflix, “Hustle,” adds to the conversation of there being more than meets the eye as a performer. Stanley Sugarman (Sandler) is a washed-up basketball scout looking for a way back into the league. When he discovers a phenomenal street ball player in Spain (Juancho Hernangomez), Sugarman sees his opportunity to get back into the NBA. That story could lead you to guess the resolution, and you’d most likely get it right. “Hustle” is the sort of film that’s more about the journey than the destination.

Sports films always tend to follow a particular narrative structure varying from “underdogs,” or “the team who has to win a big game.”  “Hustle,” follows the structure of the sports “underdog” story. If you’ve seen one sort of movie like this, then you’ve really seen them all. The success of this film really isn’t in the story, which has moments, but in the performances. Particularly Adam Sandler’s dialed down and humanized approach to this world-weary talent scout. It’s not quite on the level of what he accomplished in “Uncut Gems,” but shows there’s much more to Sandler as a performer. Especially when it’s a screenplay that isn’t bogged down with bathroom humor.

There’s a tricky tonal balance Sandler applies to this performance of Sugerman, that’s consistently engaging. He’s someone who understands the hustle of the sports world and is looking to get something more out of it. There’s a fair amount of personal tragedy that forces him through an emotional gambit. He mostly succeeds by delivering us a character that feels genuine in this world. Sugerman is consistently engaging with a subtle amount of Sandler dry-wit and humor that’s never overbearing. It’s injected sparingly enough but never makes the story lose sight of itself. The same could be said for Hernangomez as Bo Cruz, the star athlete that Sugerman sees as the way back on top.

Hernangomez is certainly given the chance to show off his basketball skills, but also his dramatic chops. They certainly aren’t groundbreaking, but a nice counterbalance to Sandler's subdued performance. The relationship that forms between these two men is consistently engaging, even though we know the arch they’re following. I wish the same could be said for the supporting characters that surround our lead duo.  Queen Latifah and Jordon Hull playing Sandler's wife and daughter are the only two in the supporting cast who come the closest to real people. My biggest problems with “Hustle” comes in the form of the attempted antagonists for our lead duo.

Robert Duvall is in one or two scenes as the owner of the Philadelphia Sixers, Vince Merrick. He isn’t given much to do, but his few scenes with Sandler bring some genuine emotion. It’s Ben Foster as Merrick’s son and Anthony Edwards as the fictional player Kermit Wilts.  They’re the kind of performances that are just so incredibly cartoonish, that I can’t tell if it’s the screenplay or performers themselves who are the problem. Each character and the other supporting outliers that surround them serve as nothing more than mountains for our protagonists to climb. We know these obstacles will eventually be overcome, but they just don’t add anything besides what the screenplay calls for. Thankfully they’re only minor inconveniences to what makes the film work overall.

“Hustle” is a promising step in showing the range of Adam Sandler as an actor. The focus of the screenplay isn’t so much the destination, but the journey our lead characters go on. It allows Sandler a chance to flex different acting muscles and shows audiences there’s more to him than meets the eye. His chemistry with Hernangomez is consistently engaging, and the insight shown into the sports world is enlightening. It’s certainly not a script or story that reinvents the genre but is a nice and entertaining addition. Streaming on Netflix now, it’s a perfect piece of crowd-pleasing counter-programming to the typical summer blockbuster.