'I LOVE THIS GAME. I LIVE THIS GAME'
Is Adam Sandler's Netflix Basketball Drama 'Hustle' Any Good? Here's What The Reviews Say
Update: On June 9, 2022, more reviews were added to the original post after they were published. These include additions from RogerEbert.com and Slant Magazine.
Adam Sandler plays Stanley Sugarman, in the new Netflix film "Hustle," a basketball scout who's trying to get a big break by nurturing Bo Cruz, played by Juancho Hernangómez, an obscure overseas player into the American National Basketball Association.
[Has Sandler — a real pick-up basketball aficionado — succeeded in breathing new life into a tried and tested basketball trope with the help of co-stars Queen Latifah, Robert Duvall and a crew of NBA athletes, or is this an underdog story we've seen before?
[Updated: On June 9, as of 9 AM ET, the film had a metacritic metascore of 67, based on 30 critic reviews and a 7.5 user score. Here's what the reviews say.
[It's An Honest Portrayal
Yet “Hustle” has its own squarely satisfying and, at moments, enthralling texture. There’s plenty of basketball, but there is no big game and, in fact, no team-vs.-team game — it’s all workouts and tryouts and the showcase basketball decathlon known as the NBA Draft Combine, which the director, Jeremiah Zagar, shoots with invigorating verve and skill. “Hustle” doesn’t rewrite any rules, but the film’s wholesome seduction is that you believe what you’re seeing — in part because of the presence of players from the aging legend Dr. J to Trae Young to Kyle Lowry and several dozen more. But also because Sandler plays Stanley with an inner sadness, a blend of weariness and resilience, and a stubborn faith in the game that leaves you moved, stoked, and utterly convinced.
[Variety]
The fanatical devotion to basketball of Sandler — a producer here, alongside LeBron James — breathes affectionate life into a film stacked with cameos from celebrated NBA stars, coaches and streetball heroes. It’s a love letter to the sport but also to Philadelphia, its music and its feverish culture of sports fandom, evidenced in atmospheric shots of murals around the city depicting basketball legends. But whether or not you’re a basketball aficionado, the sturdy script by Taylor Materne (a writer on NBA videogames) and Will Fetters (Bradley Cooper’s A Star is Born remake) pulls you into the underdog story on a human level.
[THR]
[But It Does Get A Bit Self Indulgent
This is a glossy piece of Netflix content, but it relies very heavily on NBA fan buy-in for the drama fully to work; there is a continuous series of recognition jolts provided by the stars and legends playing themselves. This is partisan basketball devotion: Stanley even says a couple of times how he “hates soccer” – even after Bo’s Spanish mum has made it clear to him that the word is “football”. Sandler has shown in the Safdie brothers’ gambling movie Uncut Gems that he can project neediness and desperation, but Hustle doesn’t quite deliver the same cold-sweat fear of loss and shame, instead there’s a feelgood bedrock that the film can’t and won’t jackhammer through. It’s the sort of film custom-made for the fans. For everyone else it would pass the time as an airline movie on a long-haul flight.
It’s only during the endgame that “Hustle” loses its heart, as the film’s most persistent tension — the tug-of-war between its potential as a legitimately elite sports drama and its purpose as a broadly entertaining piece of Netflix content — slackens into a series of predictable beats that head-fake you towards an unexpected ending only to sand off the last few edges the story has left. That extended shrug of a finale is particularly disappointing at the end of a film that’s just a few great plays away from joining the likes of “Punch-Drunk Love” and “Uncut Gems” in the first breath of reasons why Sandler is so much better than the “Do-Over” years might have suggested. If he keeps working this hard, the same man who once symbolized Netflix’s commitment to mediocrity could eventually turn out to be the streamer’s greatest draft pick.
[One Critic Thought It Lacked Nuance
The problem is that "Hustle" doesn’t really seem to know who its characters are, much less how they fit into the complicated web of sports, media, and finance that defines the NBA. Even basic character traits are oddly vague and pliant here. Bo, for one, is introduced as a dynamic, domineering player whose only real flaw is his oversensitivity to trash talk, and yet the relentless montages that dominate the film’s middle section focus less on the mental game than on Rocky-style training tropes like Stanley making Bo sprint up a steep hill every day in the pre-dawn hours.
[Slant]
TL;DR
If you’re not a fan, you might feel a little lost.
As ever, Netflix have coaxed the best out of the comedy star, with a basketball drama light on surprises but full of entertainment.
“Hustle” is the rare sports movie that translates its love of the game to the screen. It’s a little corny, and too conveniently plotted. But how many basketball movies aren’t?
While not a total slam dunk, Hustle plays admirably with a lot of passion, artistry, and intelligence.
[AV Club]
Watch the official trailer below:
