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The First Teaser for Uncut Gems Reveals Adam Sandler in Safdie Brothers’ Latest Anxiety Attack

A Safdie Brothers movie is not for the faint of heart. Then again, it is for the kind of person who loves bold, original filmmaking—someone okay, perhaps even happy with—having all sorts of conflicted feelings about the protagonist and his aims. Someone who can stand being a little (okay, a lot) anxious during a film.

Their last movie, Good Times, starred Robert Pattinson as Connie Nikas, and troubled young man whose insane journey to free his younger brother from jail was one of 2017’s most ambitious, anxiety-producing films. Now the Safdies are back with Uncut Gems, starring Adam Sandler as Howard Ratner, a jewelry store owner and seller to the rich and famous who gambles everything on a big score. The Safdies are once again working with that mini-powerhouse studio A24, which knows a thing or two about original storytelling. A24 has revealed the first glimpse of the film that wowed audiences at the Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals. It’s only 21-seconds long, but the teaser firmly plants you deep inside Safdie World, where the best-laid plans of mice and men go a little bit more than awry.

Critics have mostly loved the film. “It’s a 134-minute anxiety attack,” wrote The Globe and Mail‘s, Barry Hertz. “Uncut Gems emerges as real gem itself, a sparkling comedy-drama about a compulsive gambler and risk-taker who never knows when to quit,” said The Hollywood Reporter‘s Todd McCarthy

Sandler’s been winning a ton of praise himself. “A performance as live-wire exciting as the one the Safdies got out of Robert Pattinson in Good Time,” The AV Club‘s AA Dowd wrote.

Excited yet? Us too.

Uncut Gems hits theaters on September 24, 2019.

Here’s the official synopsis:

From acclaimed filmmakers Josh and Benny Safdie comes an electrifying crime thriller about Howard Ratner (Adam Sandler), a charismatic New York City jeweler always on the lookout for the next big score. When he 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.

Featured image: Adam Sandler in the Safdie Brothers ‘Uncut Gems.’ Courtesy A24.

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