With ‘Hustle’ and ‘Uncut Gems,’ Adam Sandler Is The New King of Basketball Movies

For over 20 years, the phrase “an Adam Sandler movie” has meant something specific. In the ’90s, it meant an absurd comedy with an edge, likely to make you laugh, cringe, and cheer for a down-to-earth idiot portrayed by Sandler. In the 2010s, after a slew of critical bombs, “an Adam Sandler movie” took on a derogatory slant—a euphemism for a very bad movie filled with cheap-shot jokes. But, with the arrival of Sandler’s dramatic successes like Uncut Gems and, as of today, Hustle, there may be a new meaning to the phrase—basketball movies.

Hustle, which began streaming on Netflix today, stars Sandler as a fictional NBA basketball scout named Stanley Sugarman who dreams of one day coaching. But first, he has to prove himself to his boss, the owner of the Philadelphia 76ers (a fictional executive played by Ben Foster), by finding the perfect recruit. When Stanely stumbles upon a Spanish street ball player named Bo (played by the NBA’s Juancho Hernangómez) with raw talent and a raw attitude, he thinks he’s found his golden ticket. But of course, it’s not that easy.

Directed by Jeremiah Zagar, with a screenplay by Taylor Materne and Will Fetters, Hustle is a fairly straightforward sports drama, buoyed by Sandler’s performance. The 55-year-old actor brings a restrained version of his humor into Stanley, giving his character a natural, affable warmth. But more than that, he breathes his not-so-restrained, all-consuming love for the sport of basketball into Stanley. This is a movie by basketball fans, for basketball fans. There’s a confidence in the way he speaks about the sport, and a rapt reverence when he watches a game, and it’s something that can’t be faked. And, of course, there are the dozens upon dozens of NBA cameos, from Dr. J to Shaquille O’Neal.

In fact, according to Hustle executive producer Spencer Beighley, Sandler’s love of movies might come second to his love of the game. “Seeing Adam’s love of basketball on the set of this movie was extremely special,” Beighley said in an interview for the Hustle press notes. “He was truly a kid in a candy store. And as much as this guy loves movies, he might love basketball a little bit more. Every day that he was playing basketball in this movie and bringing the character of Stanley to life, or working with Juancho, Anthony, and the other players, you could tell that his excitement was coming from such a genuine place of joy.”

Producer Zack Roth added that Sandler’s love of the game is why his production company came to Sandler and Happy Madison (Sandler’s company) with the Hustle script in the first place. “He had just wrapped Uncut Gems and we thought he might dig a more dramatic story set inside the world of the NBA,” Roth said in the same interview.  “I had some personal insight into how much he loved basketball, so I was hoping this movie would tap into that passion. I had actually worked for his company as an intern almost 20 years ago on the Sony lot. And I remember Adam as he’s walking out the door in basketball shorts and sunglasses being like, ‘Hey Zacky, let’s go play some ball.’ I thought I would run circles around him. Man, I was wrong. He whooped me. The man can ball. ”

Sandler is, of course, a good dramatic in his own right with or without the ball, as he’s proved long ago in films like Punch Drunk Love and The Meyerowitz Stories. But Hustle comes just a few years after Uncut Gems, the Safdie brothers’ thriller that many critics called the best performance of Sandler’s career, and which very nearly earned him an Oscar nomination. Of course, in that movie Sandler’s love of basketball wasn’t nearly so wholesome—it was the catalyst of a gambling addiction that took over his life, and eventually (spoiler alert) led to his death.

But whether a fatal flaw or an emotional heart, his basketball obsession lends authenticity to his characters. It feels like the comedian is deliberately carving out a space for himself as a basketball movie guy. Maybe it doesn’t hurt that Sandler gets to work with real-life NBA stars when he makes these movies. It’s not a vacation to Chebacco Lake with Kevin James and David Spade, but it’s not a bad perk. But most importantly, Sandler is just very, very good at portraying dudes who really, really like basketball. Let the new era of Adam Sandler movies commence.