Uncut Crap
Worst. Movie. Ever. Uncut Gems. Actually, what I should say is, "Worst. Movie. Ever. That. Everyone. Is. Praising."
I've heard this movie praised on podcasts. I've heard it praised in private conversations. It has a 7.4 rating on IMDB and 92% of critics like it, according to Rotten Tomatoes. We tried watching it Saturday night. Ages in our home audience ranged from Tess (15) to me (54). Three males; two females. After an hour, Michael (21) said, "Is nobody else enjoying this either?" I sighed relief and we all agreed to watch Airplane! (1980) instead.
The movie is, literally, exhausting. It starts with dialogue that you can't hear because the intro music is way too loud. The movie score itself is incredibly annoying. And the movie consists almost entirely of Jews and blacks yelling non-stop, with a disjointed plot line that exists but is really hard to follow. After we were done, I read the story synopsis online (with spoilers, since there is zero chance I'll ever finish it), and was like, "Oh, that's what was happening. Man, this movie sucked more than I thought."
Anyway, don't believe the hype. If you have a high tolerance for dysfunctional scenes, music, dialogue, and life, this movie might be for you, but otherwise? Read a book instead.
Adam Sandler's performance, btw, was good, as far as I could tell. I have no quibble with his first foray into drama.
And if I had to guess, that's one reason people are praising the movie. They were suspect that Sandler could pull off a serious acting role, so when he did, they were so pleasantly surprised, they gave it good ratings.
That, anyway, is the only justification I can see for the high marks.
The picture in today's post is John Henry Newman's library at the Oratory in Birmingham. I love pics of stately libraries. When coupled with a saint? The best. This picture will (literally?) grace TDE posts occasionally from this point forward.
