Movie · 2019 · Drama, Thriller, Crime · 2h 16m · R · English
Curator score: 8.7/10 (1.9M ratings)
This is how I win.
Overview
A charismatic New York City jeweler always on the lookout for the next big score makes a series of high-stakes bets that could lead to the windfall of a lifetime. Howard must perform a precarious high-wire act, balancing business, family, and encroaching adversaries on all sides in his relentless pursuit of the ultimate win.
Ratings
Curator score: 8.7/10
IMDb: 7.4/10
Letterboxd: 3.95/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 91%
Metacritic: 93
TMDB: 7.2/10
Director
Josh Safdie, Benny Safdie
Production
A24, Elara Pictures, IAC Films, Sikelia Productions, Scott Rudin Productions
Cast
Adam Sandler, LaKeith Stanfield, Julia Fox, Kevin Garnett, Idina Menzel, Eric Bogosian, Judd Hirsch, Keith William Richards, Mike Francesa, Jonathan Aranbayev, Noa Fisher, The Weeknd, Mesfin Lamengo, Sun Zhi Hua-Hilton, Liang Wei-Hui-Duncan, Deneke Muhugeta, Habtunu Africho, Warren Finkelstein, Tommy Kominik, Maksud Agadjani
Curator Review
Verdict
A ferocious, nerve-shredding crime thriller that turns bad decisions into pure momentum. It’s best watched for its relentless tension, vivid New York texture, and a lead performance that makes self-destruction feel hypnotic and tragic at once.
Best for
Viewers who like anxiety-driven thrillers
Fans of morally messy antiheroes
People who enjoy propulsive, high-stakes crime stories
Audiences drawn to abrasive, kinetic filmmaking
Anyone curious about one of Adam Sandler’s best dramatic performances
Skip if
You want a calm, cleanly structured thriller
You dislike characters who never stop making terrible choices
You prefer tidy endings or moral clarity
You’re sensitive to nonstop stress and shouting
Overview
Uncut Gems is less a thriller than a pressure chamber. Every scene feels like it’s running on borrowed time, with the camera, the sound, and the performances all conspiring to keep the audience one bad decision away from panic. It’s a movie about hustle, addiction, ego, and the fantasy that one more move will fix everything, even as each move makes the trap tighter.
Worth noting
What makes it hit so hard is how specific it feels: the jewelry district, the basketball obsession, the family chaos, the constant bargaining with fate. Howard is magnetic because he’s so alive to possibility and so blind to consequence. The film never lets him become merely pathetic; it understands the seduction of risk and the thrill of believing you can outplay reality.
Bottom line
The Safdies shoot it like a panic attack with street-level detail, and the result is exhausting in the best way. It’s funny, ugly, tragic, and weirdly exhilarating, often in the same breath. If you want a movie that leaves your shoulders up around your ears, this is one of the defining examples.
Top Letterboxd reviews
maria (4.5★) · 21971 likes
this movie starts us right off with a psychedelic colonoscopy to signify how clenched our asses will be for the next 2 hours and 15 minutes and i call this.... and i cannot stress this enough............... poetic cinema
davidehrlich (4★) · 11769 likes
UNCUT GEMS is the movie that Jews were promised in the Torah
UNCUT GEMS is gonna be the theme of my son’s bar mitzvah.
Josh Lewis (5★) · 11480 likes
Adam Sandler sobbing “you can’t even get buried with me now” while looking at Julia Fox’s ass tattoo fucking destroyed me. More thoughts.
James (Schaffrillas) (4.5★) · 9031 likes
The best live-action Shark Tale remake I could ask for
Patrick Willems (4.5★) · 8284 likes
If you're looking for a movie that will stress you out so much you'll claw the skin off your face, this is the one for you!
2013 · Crime, Drama, Comedy · 3h · R · Curator 7.9/10 (5.7M ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, Paramount Plus Premium, Paramount Plus Essential, AMC+, Philo, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Shares the manic energy, appetite for risk, and portrait of a man intoxicated by his own momentum.
1998 · Crime, Drama, Thriller · 2h 1m · R · Curator 8.0/10 (147.9K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, MGM Plus, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
A devastating descent into greed and paranoia after a tempting financial opportunity appears.
1993 · Drama, Mystery, Thriller · 2h 34m · R · Curator 4.3/10 (284.1K ratings) · Where to watch: fuboTV, Paramount Plus Premium, Paramount Plus Essential, MGM Plus
For the relentless procedural pressure and the sense of a protagonist trapped by his own choices.