'Hustle' is too lazy to succeed as comfort food
Netflix
There’s an enormous gap between “He Got Game” and “The Air Up There,” and “Hustle”–to not be specific at all–lands somewhere in the middle. It would be a stretch to call it “High Flying Bird” for dummies, but the movie is both warmer than you might expect and disappointing in its lack of interest in complexity in its characters or story.
Perhaps that’s not entirely surprising considering that this is both A. the occasional Adam Sandler dramatic role and B. still a Happy Madison production, meaning that nobody should show up expecting the Sandler character to take accountability or suffer consequences for any choices, only to be presented as the bland good guy around whom the entire movie revolves. This time it’s Stanley Sugerman, a scout for the Philadelphia 76ers who’d rather be an assistant coach in order to spend less time on the road and more time with his wife (Queen Latifah, used better here than in the likewise-basketball-based “Just Wright”) and daughter (Jordan Hull). He gets his wish for about five minutes, but when the team owner (Robert Duvall) dies and leaves his son (Ben Foster) in charge, Stanley says goodbye to his closet-sized office and returns to a seemingly never-ending search for an international player who can bring the team back to the glory days of Dr. J, Charles Barkley and Allen Iverson.
Director Jeremiah Zagar gets a nice performance from Junacho Hernangomez (who plays for the Utah Jazz) as Bo Cruz, a shockingly unknown talent Stanley spots playing streetball in Spain and turns into both a high-priority prospect and surrogate child. There is legitimate sweetness in the dynamic between Bo (who Stanley describes as being “like if Scottie Pippen and a wolf had a baby”) and his caretaker, who, in typically strong work from Sandler when he seems to care at all about the story being told, radiates professionalism and experience but also fear and exhaustion. It’s clear that this is the sort of movie that the star, well-known as a big basketball fan (something that also played into the great “Uncut Gems”), would want to watch, and much of “Hustle” works as an old-fashioned exploration of persistence and going after something that no one will give to you otherwise.
Yet the script by Will Fetters and Taylor Materne deflates whenever it tries to be funny (too many lowbrow innuendos, not enough actual cleverness) and in its steadfast refusal to pursue originality and depth instead of something comforting and simple. Both Bo and Stanley’s supposed flaws are crafted to ensure we can only feel one way about them, and the movie prefers to brush aside the latter’s oversights in preparing his client (the movie’s understanding of on-court trash-talking is about as sophisticated as “BASEketball”). Household discussions of finances, risks, etc., certainly are not cross-referenced with mistakes in any way that would elevate the stakes.
Instead, the movie leans on countless appearances by NBA coaches and players (usually playing themselves, occasionally playing characters like Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards as Bo’s nemesis Kermit Wilts) and many, many training montages. The narrow-mindedness of Foster’s character (in contrast with his sister, played winningly by Heidi Gardner of “SNL”) is too simplistic as well, feeling very detached from how things actually work in the NBA regarding controversial players (or the delicate motivations of the aforementioned and far superior “High Flying Bird”). Familiarity (sports movies often stick to a template, and that’s OK) shouldn’t feel like details have been redacted. Plus, despite repeated commentary about the value of obsession and passion, “Hustle” struggles to present much understanding about what’s special about basketball or what NBA-level talent and potential look like (or don’t).
Sandler has done much better and much, much, much worse than a two-hour shoot-around that just adds up to, “The hard is what makes it great.”
C+
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