Movie Review: 'Hustle' Starring Adam Sandler

Hustle stars Adam Sandler as Stanley Sugarman, a scout for the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers. It’s Stanley’s job to travel around the world and find the next great European player. On a trip to Spain, he finds that player. Bo Cruz, played by NBA star Juancho Hernangomez, is tall and fast and has a terrific jump shot. Spotting Bo playing streetball late one one night, Stanley recognizes his talent even as he was playing basketball in work boots.

Believing that Bo is the next great player, the one to take the 76ers to the next level, Stanley has to convince the higher ups. This means convincing his long time rival, Vince Merrick (Ben Foster), the talentless son of the late owner (Robert Duvall), to take a chance. When Vince says no and tells Stanley to forget about Bo, Stanley risks his job and financial security to bring Bo to America on his own dime. Putting him up in a hotel, Stanley has to try and get the kid into the NBA draft while keeping Vince in the dark.

In the Middle of the Basketball Action

Supporting Stanley, despite the lies mounting around him, is his loving wife Teresa (Queen Latifah) and his college bound daughter, even as he’s had to lie to them a little as well. Once those lies are exposed, Stanley’s out of a job and it appears Bo is out of his NBA dreams. Where the story goes from there involves some of the best basketball footage ever in a mainstream movie. The dynamic camera work in Hustle puts the viewer in the middle of the action and it is visceral and exciting.

I have criticized Adam Sandler many times in my career. I’ve grown exhausted from complaining about his wasted talent and my wasted time. Thankfully, Hustle is one of his more engaged and present performances. Sandler’s love of basketball has him fully invested in this character and this story. It’s not quite as good as his performance in Uncut Gems, but it is along the same lines. Both films give Sandler access to top NBA stars and I am starting to wonder if NBA players are the way to get Sandler motivated to work.

Forcing in a Villain

Sadly, Hustle is not as good as it could be. The script by Will Fetters and Taylor Materne, brought to the screen by first time feature director, Jeremiah Zagar, takes too many shortcuts. The worst shortcut comes in the form of actor Ben Foster. Why anyone thought this story needed a villain is beyond me. The biggest obstacle should not come in the form of a stock villain but in the striving of both main characters to get past their inner demons. Foster’s Vince is an entirely unnecessary impediment.

Foster’s performance isn’t bad, he’s far too good an actor to not deliver. Rather, the way the character is edited renders him a villain. Watching Vince revel in seeing Bo Cruz fail at a mini-camp or tryout makes no sense. He may have a beef with Sandler’s character but him openly rooting for Bo’s failure comes off as forced. It plays as if the filmmakers weren’t confident enough in their story creating drama that they decided to force a villain into the story to create artificial tension.

Saved by Sandler and Basketball

The choice to force in a villain doesn’t ruin Hustle. It downgrades the movie but it doesn’t destroy it. Thankfully, the dynamic between Adam Sandler and Juancho Hernangomez is strong enough to withstand the bad choices in the script, editing and direction of Hustle. The basketball scenes, especially the terrific training montages, are superb and incredibly entertaining. Sandler and Hernangomez have great chemistry and the drama between the two of them is more than enough to carry Hustle. Too bad the filmmakers didn’t feel that way.

Hustle opened in theaters on June 3rd, 2022. It will debut on Netflix on June 8th, 2022.