Hustle Review

 

Hustle is a sports drama film. It's produced by Happy Madison Productions, SpringHill Company, and Roth/Kirschebaum Films and distributed by Netflix. Hustle is written by Will Fetters and Taylor Materne and directed by Jeremiah Zagar.

The story is former basketball scout Stanley Sugarman is very much down and his luck and his seen better days. After witnessing an incredible set of skills by a man named Bo Cruz, Stanley decides to take him overseas and have in play in the NBA.

Initial Reaction

The reason why I wanted to see this because after watching Uncut Gems, I was very curious about Adam Sandler's more dramatic/serious roles. And after watching those movies I was interested in seeing Sandler do another more serious movie.

Cons

I've got nothing to say. Let's move on.

Middle Ground

Now I'm being honest when I say yes, this is a predictable movie. However, I'm almost willing to forgive it for that, because after it was over, I was very surprised of how well executed everything was.

Pros

One pro to this film is the humor. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that when they saw the Happy Madison logo they were afraid that the humor would be annoying/bad. But it's not. It's very contained and subtle. In matter of fact, the humor is primarily dialogue heavy. So if you were scared that it was gonna be over the top, but that worry aside, because that's by no means the case. Now this story isn't based on an actual basketball player, but the story felt so realistic. Bo actually has to go through a process of reaching the big time. I wouldn't be surprised if the filmmakers did a little bit of research, like asking real basketball players of how they got to where they are, or if it was just searching through the internet. Either way, it was nice too have some truth in an otherwise fictional story. What was also great aspect of Hustle was Stanley and Bo's journeys. Stanley is really not getting along with his boss, and he also still feels horrible about an incident that happened years ago, that really messed up his hand. So it almost feels like he wants to make up for that mistake by doing whatever he can to make basketball better anyway he can. Then we have Bo. Sure, he's very much a talented basketball player, but he really is just going through the motions. So throughout the film we're witnessing him having to break through that barrier. But, at the same time he also is kinda walking on eggshells, because he did something in the past, where if he screws up, he could lose this spectacular opportunity. So really you just want both to succeed with their goals. The last thing I'll praise and it's the best thing about this movie is Adam Sandler's performance. He once again gives a phenomenal performance. He killed it playing a man who is truly passionate about this sport. That speech he gave about how there's those that are obsessed with basketball, and then there are those that are talented was delivered perfectly. If Sandler ever decides to stop doing comedy films and do more serious stuff, I wouldn't be against that.

Hustle is actually a really good sports flick. It's got great humor, a realistic story despite being fictional, Stanley and Bo going through great journeys, and a spectacular performance from Adam Sandler. Sure, it's predictable, but because of the final product you can easily brush that off.

My final rating is Great.

Okay, I'm all done here. Come back on Thursday, Jun 16th for my review of The Daily Wire's newest film, Terror on the Prairie. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.