‘Hustle’ Review: Put Me In, N.B.A. Executive!

Adam Sandler and Utah jazz player Juancho Hernangomez star in an unsentimental sports drama where success is tenuous and one mistake can ruin a dream.

Juancho Hernangómez, left, and Adam Sandler in “Hustle.”Credit...Scott Yamano

A huge crowd pleaser over the N.draft, "Hustle" knows basketball is a long-armed, higher-odds sport. Fewer than 500 players are in the N at the same time; Collectively, the players who've risen through its ranks since its inception in 1946 wouldn't even come close to filling Madison Square Garden. The 76ers named Stanley Sugerman, who spent his life finding greatspotential rookies for their size, wingspan, speed and emotional strength. After stumbling upon a lively game of streetball on the Spanish island of Mallorca, Stanley impulsively bets his career (and upbeat personal life with his wife, played by Queen Latifah) on a raw talent who excels in only two of the four qualities. Bo Cruz (Juancho Hernangómez) is a lanky construction worker with tattooed limbs that seem to be everywhere at once, like the tentacles of an aggressive octopus. In real life
, Hernangómez is a power forward for the Utah Jazz. On screen, he's a cheerful, calm, charismatic presence who makes Sandler scream and then lands a direct punch in the ribs.Cruz and Stanley's mental and physical preparation for the draft is quite literally an uphill battle, with Stanley waking up his prospect at 4 a.m. running the streets of Philly while yelling obscenities at him to harden his skin. Insults from Cruz's native language, Spanish. Jeremiah Zagar, who directed Hustle, has a hard time making documentaries.Neither he nor screenwriters Taylor Materne and Will Fetters idealize the multi-billion dollar business of professional sports. They erase any luster of sentimentality. Success is meager; One mistake can derail a dream. Zagar holds cameraman Zak Mulligan's camera in hand and on his feet. Casually watch the rainbow of Lamborghinis outside an arena parking lot without getting into a sticky spotForeground. The naturalistic style switches only in a central sequence that valiantly tries to outdo "Rocky" with a workout montage so gruelingly aerobic that he pauses midway as if trying to catch his breath. many non-professional actors joined Sandler and Hernangómez in the cast. Frowning N. Bobo of the Dallas Mavericks, Boban Marjanovic pulls several good jokes as a wannabe who shaves a decade off his
years, and Kenny Smith-turned-commentator deftly wields a sizable chunk as a high-flying agent.Anthony Edwards, the 20-year-old rising star of the Minnesota Timberwolves known as AntMan (himself a 2020 draft pick), excels in the riskiest role as a trash-talking villain who deserves to be shoved in a sock that makes his mouth sweat, interestingly enough it's respected actor Ben Foster ("Leave No Trace") left hanging as a nepotistic receptionist who waves his arms angrily to hide that he's out of his league. Hobbing Foster with such a sketchy caricature is a blatant foul.