{"id":18408,"date":"2022-06-08T11:16:19","date_gmt":"2022-06-08T18:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/?p=18408"},"modified":"2024-03-02T21:12:44","modified_gmt":"2024-03-03T05:12:44","slug":"review-hustle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/review-hustle\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Hustle<\/i>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s a story we\u2019ve seen unfold many times before: A cynical, aging sports figure finds a spectacular talent in an unlikely place. It eventually becomes a tale of stubborn perseverance, as the figure \u2014 now infused with an enthusiasm he thought he lost a long time ago \u2014 puts his career on the line to shape and mold the talent into the sports star he obviously will become. Of course, the talent and the figure form an us-against-the-world bond, inspiring each other to stay on course even when naysayers try to figuratively and literally take them out the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can list so many movies that go exactly this way: The Scout<\/em>. Million Dollar Arm<\/em>. Trouble with the Curve<\/em>. Hell, I got an old high-school friend whose dad wrote the script for The Air Up There<\/em>, a movie where a college basketball coach (Kevin Bacon) heads all the way to Kenya to recruit a prospect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A similar setup prompts the new Netflix movie Hustle<\/em> (not to be confused with the 1975 film noir starring Burt Reynolds). Adam Sandler\u2019s veteran basketball scout Stanley Sugarman travels the world, looking for the next great phenom that\u2019ll lead his Philadelphia 76ers to a championship. He thought his days of hopping on planes and eating fast food were over when the owner (a very brief Robert Duvall) promoted him to assistant coach. Unfortunately, the owner dies, and his son (a self-centered Ben Foster) sends him back out on the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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(Netflix)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While in Spain, he sees young dynamo Bo Cruz (Utah Jazz power forward Juancho Hernang\u00f3mez) playing some dazzling streetball and immediately recruits him. Even though the team passes on the kid, Sugarman brings him to the States anyway, in the hopes that somebody will pick up this diamond in the rough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The whole thing is familiar yet likable. Director Jeremiah Zagar (We the Animals<\/em>) sticks to his Philly roots, as he gives us another inspirational sports yarn (written by A Star is Born<\/em> co-writer Will Fetters and Taylor Materne, who has written for a couple of NBA 2K<\/em> games) set in Rocky\u2019s town, featuring not one, but two<\/em> underdogs. Sandler gives another dramatic, fleshed-out performance that eschews funny voices and weird sounds and faces. (Hustle<\/em> is one of those rare Happy Madison productions where the star\/producer isn\u2019t slumming it in a silly-ass farce.) Sugarman is still a wisecracker, but he\u2019s also a family man (Queen Latifah credibly keeps the home fires burning as Sugarman\u2019s loyal wife) still trying to make a living in a profession he loves \u2014 even if it doesn\u2019t love him back. He and Hernang\u00f3mez\u2019s hotheaded prodigy are in the same boat, as single dad Cruz has only two loves: basketball and his family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unless you count all the cameos from past and present b-ball greats (Kenny Smith even lands a supporting role as Sugarman\u2019s supportive pal), there aren\u2019t really any surprises in Hustle<\/em>. You know that Sugarman is gonna work Cruz hard, so he can be at his best on the court. You know people will try to stop him from being his best (y\u2019all really gonna hate Anthony Edwards of the Minnesota Timberwolves, who plays a cocky, trash-talking rival). And you know the story is going to end in a triumphant manner. And, yet, it\u2019ll have you rooting for its two main characters every step of the way. Plus, it\u2019s an Adam Sandler movie where Adam Sandler doesn\u2019t act like an unhinged dumbass \u2014 so that\u2019s good. \"\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

B-<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

“Hustle” is now streaming on Netflix.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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