Sometimes you honestly believe you’ve seen it all, maybe even written about it all … and then, something appears that completely blindsides you. In this case it was genuine depth in a Happy Madison film. Who saw that coming, huh?
Cashing in on his basketball-themed success in Uncut Gems, Adam Sandler extended his new playground and invited the entre NBA along for his painful and uplifting ride as a scout for the Philadelphia 76ers in Hustle. Hustle got a lot of things right … the foremost being a lot of NBA scouting is now done overseas. At the start of the film, Stanley Sugarman (Sandler) is traveling all over Europe to find NBA talent. His first stop finds talented 12-year pro-ball veteran Serbian big man Boban Marjanović claiming to be a 22-year-old while showing off his 6-foot-tall “10-year-old” son. That won’t fly; which is a shame, because every other talent he saw was –at best- an Uncut Gem.
Promised a promotion to Assistant Coach, Sugarman finds the pledge-cupboard bare when the 76ers, once again, need his expertise to be anywhere but Pennsylvania … which sucks for wife Queen Latifah and teenage daughter Jordan Hull. Ah, but Spain is where the plot happens – isn’t it always the last place you look? Who had “Spain?” Was it you? You?
Deciding to blow off steam after a failed arena venture, Stan heads for the public bball courts and finds a 22-year-old hustler in construction shoes. Bo Cruz (Juancho Hernangómez) is the real deal. Not only can you not beat him one-on-one; he will literally bet that you can’t even get a shot off. That’s NBA level talent and confidence. It would be nice if it were that easy, huh? But there’s quite a distance between “Spanish street-court amateur” and the NBA, and even a scout for a professional franchise is going to find una montaña of transitional pain.
Much of what follows is the grooming of Bo Cruz into an NBA talent at the hands of Stanley Sugarman. This relationship
is the strength of the film, but getting the Spaniard into NBA shape both physically and mentally requires several good basketball scenes, a lot of genuine basketball talent, and a Rocky-like montage or four. Occasionally, this film is little more than an exercise in visual name-dropping. Depending on how well you know the history of basketball, you may discover dozens of noteworthy faces to ID from Hall-of-Famers down to legendary “amateurs.”
Hustle is essentially the same film as The Air Up There, only with a little more heart and great deal more authenticity. This is one of Sandler’s “straight” roles; he offers almost nothing in the way of humor, and, let’s face it, the film is a winner, perhaps as a result … or at least a side-effect. Unlike many, I wasn’t terribly sold on Uncut Gems, but I truly enjoyed Sandler here and liked both Juancho Hernangómez and his main film rival, Kermit Wilts (Anthony Edwards) enough to look up their careers – both are definitely rising stars in the league … and as actors if I’m being fair. This brings up a question I always wondered about: why do stellar basketball players make better actors than stars of other sports? Kazaam notwithstanding, I’m pretty sure this is true, although I’m not going to investigate it at present. If you’ve got a good answer to that one, please lemme know.
Adam Sandler is having a bball affair
And he’s gathered pros from everywhere
These Happy Mad groups
So busy shooting hoops
Can you shoot Kevin James while you’re there?
Rated R, 117 Minutes
Director: Jeremiah Zagar
Writer: Will Fetters, Taylor Materne
Genre: Gamin’
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Basketball historians
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: People who long for the days of the set shot and segregation
