Netflix And Chill: Hustle (2022)

In much the same way as I have steered the choppy waters of the filmography of Nicolas Cage, I have also never given up entirely on Adam Sandler. Which isn't to say that I wasn't tempted. His worst films are truly abysmal, with his comedy seemingly becoming more and more all about what will amuse him and his mates while they enjoy a paid holiday somewhere nice, but there were always things I could enjoy. And I'm not just talking about something as celebrated as Uncut Gems. No, I'm on about chuckling away through something like Hubie Halloween, The Week Of, and The Do Over. Are they up there with his best comedies? Absolutely not. But they're fun, if you don't mind Sandler. Meanwhile, he has also been moving more towards delivering absolutely brilliant performances in more dramatic works, whether it's his subverted angry man-child turn in Punch Drunk Love, his somewhat paralysed character in Reign Over Me, his charming work in the sorely-neglected Spanglish, and that aforementioned winning showcase of his talent crafted by the Safdie brothers.

Hustle is another drama in Sandler's filmography, a sports movie that focuses on basketball. It's as tense and enjoyable as it is predictable, and it should leave most viewers with a big grin on their face. It helps if you like basketball, of course, but, like so many sports movies, the heart of it isn't really just about the sport. It's about never giving up, it's about inspiring others, and it's about having faith, in yourself and those around you.

Sandler plays Stanley Sugarman, a talented basketball scout who really wants to settle down now and enjoy the life of a coach/assistant coach. He is told that will happen when he brings in the latest great talent for his team, which he thinks is locked in once he discovers Bo Cruz (Juancho Hernangomez) playing out of his skin in Spain. Making some big promises to Bo, Stanley heads home with his great new discovery, but then he starts to encounter problems. Bo needs to get used to players using every tactic possible to get inside his head, and he has a big mistake in his past that may turn people against him. Laying everything on the line, with the support of his wife (Teresa, played by Queen Latifah), Stanley keeps playing every angle possible to get Bo noticed, and get him his shot to play for a big team. He also keeps pushing Bo beyond his limits, physically and mentally, to get him into the best shape of his life.

Written by Will Fetters and Taylor Materne, the former having helped to write stuff like The Lucky One and A Star Is Born while the latter has a body of work that includes some documentaries and a couple of NBA games, this is a great combination of clichés and absolutely satisfying cinematic moments. Director Jeremiah Zagar, also coming with a filmography that has more documentary and short work making up the majority of it, has a good feel for the material. The heartbeat is strong and steady throughout, and all of the basketball sequences are clearly shot and edited in a way that energises things without causing headaches. Whether you end up responding to the content of the film or not, the presentation, from the cinematography to the humour laced throughout, is pretty flawless.

Sandler is wonderful in the lead role, playing a guy who lives and breathes basketball. He has always been someone clearly passionate about sport, something that has crept into many of his movies, but this feels like a natural fit without feeling lazy. His character is a full, well-rounded, character, not just a casual suit for Sandler to slip into (although I know that some may disagree, despite a lot of his usual tics and tricks being dialled way down here). Hernangomez is equally good, and arguably more crucial to the cast. He is a professional NBA player, which is obvious from his skill shown onscreen, but he acquits himself superbly as the raw talent that Sandler wants to help polish into a shining superstar. He's not the only basketball player here either, with a number of roles, big and small, for the likes of Anthony Edwards, Julius (Dr. J) Erving, and Michael Foster Jr. As well as MANY others helping to make the basketball action realistic and exciting. Latifah and Jordan Hull (as Alex Sugarman, Stanley's daughter) are both welcome supporting players, literally, with the actresses showing just why Sandler's character wants to settle down and repay those who have stood by him throughout his career. Ben Foster is the team owner, Vince Merrick, who butts heads with his talent scout, leading to the biggest gamble in the movie, and Kenny Smith, playing Leon, gives the impression of real friendship with Sandler's character, a bond forged through their history and love of the game. 

If you like Adam Sandler in less comedic roles then you should like this. If you like a good sports movie then you should like this. If you like basketball then you should like this. If you like being entertained and left with a grin on your face then you should like this. Most people should like this. It's not quite perfect, mainly because of the predictability factor, but I'd say it's easily up there with the very best sports movies we've had. And that includes the GOAT that is White Men Can't Jump*.

*not the GOAT, but a firm favourite for many of us, surely.

8/10

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Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021)

I get it now, I really get it, and I can only apologise to the people I have seen sharing their disappointment of Space Jam: A New Legacy online. Because I replied to a lot of them with a jokey comment about the first film being no classic work of art. It's fun, because what kind of film featuring some Looney Tunes action could possibly not be fun, but it's also a film that holds up best in the recesses of your nostalgia. Maybe the same will be said one day about this film, but I doubt it.

The very basic plot concerns LeBron James and his son, Dom (Cedric Jones), being sucked into a main server by a Warner Brothers algorithm, Al G. Rhythm (Don Cheadle). Al wants to create a team around Dom that will take on his father at basketball, and that will be the Goon Squad. Meanwhile, LeBron ends up enlisting help from the Looney Tunes. And the scene is set for a basketball game that plays by videogame rules, with power-ups and special score boosts available, while a crowd of characters from various Warner Brothers properties look on. Not exactly the ones we know and love though. You see Batman, Robin, Pennywise, The Penguin, an agent from The Matrix, and many more. But they're the versions you'd get if you hired people from a look-a-like agency.

There are too many people involved in the writing of this mess to make it worth my time to name them all, which saves me time and spares their embarrassment, but director Malcolm D. Lee is responsible for trying to mix all the ingredients into one enjoyable bit of junk food. So you get the star power at the centre of it all (LeBron, his acting skills and charisma far below his basketball skills), you get a decent mix of musical score and one or two new pop songs, and you have the Looney Tunes doing their thing, which is the absolute highlight.

Another highlight is Cheadle, who has a whale of a time in the role of the villain. He and Jones are the only human stars who get a chance to have some decent moments onscreen. Otherwise, the real stars here are Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig (who drops a cringe-inducing rap at one point), and the rest of the animated gang. Which is a plus.

Some people are saying that people are missing the point if they don’t realise that this is aimed squarely at younger viewers. Unfortunately, that isn’t true. Warner Brothers is trying to entertain younger viewers AND cash in on the nostalgic love for the original that many movie fans of my age may have. That leaves it stretching too far for almost every gag. A reworking of the opening of The Matrix? Having both The Iron Giant and King Kong in the audience? A Back To The Future reference? Throw in that Pennywise inclusion, as well as characters from the likes of Game Of Thrones and other more adult-oriented properties, and it is clear that WB just wanted to throw absolutely everything into the mix, giving themselves a family flick with a crossover appeal to those who enjoyed the overstuffed set-pieces in Ready Player One. The only main difference, and big problem, is that Ready Player One was a story about someone sharing his nostalgic love for ‘80s pop culture. This isn’t, yet it plays out as if it is.

I had a few chuckles while waiting for the predictable finale, anything with Bugs and Daffy will at least slightly amuse me, but this is a massive disappointment. Not that I was expecting a masterpiece, but I didn’t have expect it to be so completely unnecessary. Bonus point for one of the most fun cameos I have seen in a while though, even if it was obvious as soon as it started being built up.

4/10

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Mubi Monday: Hoop Dreams (1994)

Some things are just much more inherently American than other things. Massive portions of food in their restaurants (pretty sure, from memory, that a standard burger over there is about the size of my head), the belief that guns will solve a lot of problems, despite guns arguably being THE biggest problem that they have had in the past decade (this is a sweeping generalisation to poke fun at the more extreme end of the spectrum, not every responsible gun-owner in America), and major sporting events. The UK may love football (soccer to our American friends), and somehow there are still people who enjoy the snorefest that is cricket (a sport designed to keep men busy on a Sunday afternoon in the days when all shops were closed and they only had access to one rock solid potato and the towels and spare furniture parts left in the spare room that nobody had set foot in since the great IKEA cot-building disaster of 1909), but it doesn't compare to the devotion to some big sporting events that Americans have. The Superbowl. A trip out to a baseball game. The wrestling stars who play to packed arenas. And the NBA.

Hoop Dreams is a documentary focusing on the lives of William Gates and Arthur Agee, two young African-Americans who may well find their futures greatly improved by their skill at basketball. They are given some more opportunity, and attention, at their school, comparatively speaking, and there's a lot of tension there, simply rooting for young men to handle some extreme pressure and make the most of an opportunity that may very well be a life-changing one for them.

Directed by Steve James, who also helped to write around the narrative with producer Frederick Marx, Hoop Dreams is one of many sports movies that should also appeal to people who don't really like sports. It's easy to remember the big money side of sports, and many of us will have heard about the enticements offered to students by universities with seemingly unlimited budgets to build up successful sport teams, but the best thing about this documentary is that it very much shows the real impact on the lives of young men faced with life choices put in front of them because of their sporting prowess. These are children who have found something they enjoy, something they end up being really good at, and the hard work that stems from that can be as depressing and damaging as it can be rewarding.

Gates and Agee are two different personality types, making it easier to highlight the differences and the commonalities in their stories. There's plenty of moments showing basketball being played, of course, but much more time showing how these boys/young men are affected by everything else in their lives, from the financial commitment required to keep them in a decent education to their friends and family, some of them being more supportive than others. Can they keep their heads in the game, or will they be swayed by the kind of problems that seem much larger when there's so much at stake?

I've already said a lot more than I thought I was going to say about this, which is a pleasant surprise. Although it is, essentially, a film about basketball, Hoop Dreams is about much more than that. It's about education, about class and social issues, and about the whole damn system, which is both highly problematic and yet also an essential way for many young men (no idea what, if any, opportunities are there for young women) to massively improve their lot in life.

Oh, the runtime is just under three hours. It doesn't feel that long, and it's very much worth the time investment.

9/10

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