1. Uncut Gems (2019)
The term “white-knuckle thriller” was made for movies like Uncut Gems. After years of flailing around in mediocre studio comedies, Adam Sandler went to the dark side in his role as Howard Ratner, a Diamond District player whose toxic gambling addiction escalates into violence. The Safdie Brothers give Sandler carte blanche to run wild as a bespectacled agent of chaos, whose ring-studded fingers and obnoxious gold Rolexes can’t shield him from others’ aggressions. Whether or not Uncut Gems is actually Adam Sandler’s best movie, it’s without question one of his best performances, forcing us to acknowledge that Hollywood’s biggest clown is in his own ways a king.
