Not to put too fine a point on it, but Adam Sandler has made a huge number of terrible movies during his career. Uncut Gems hinted that a long-term segue into more dramatic territory could finally be on the cards, something that’s hopefully been reaffirmed by Hustle landing the best critical and user ratings the actor and producer has ever seen on Rotten Tomatoes.
At the time of writing, Netflix’s basketball dramedy is currently tied with the aforementioned Uncut Gems on a 92 percent score, but it’s the user rating where things really come into focus. The Safdie brothers’ vicious crime caper wasn’t as rapturously received by audiences as it was reviewers, bringing its tally down to a surprisingly mediocre 52 percent.
Hustle, on the other hand, has become one of the rare cases where both sides of the divide are in unanimous agreement, which has seen the film double down on its 92 rating. As a result, that makes the smash hit streaming exclusive the best entry in the entire Sandler back catalogue based on nothing but the cold, hard, facts.
Sure, the Sandman has plenty of fans that have followed him from over a quarter of a century, but critics have very rarely been left impressed with Happy Madison’s output, which makes the success of Hustle all the more impressive. It may have taken the company 46 attempts to land a Certified Fresh production, but it was definitely worth the wait.
We fully expect Sandler to head back into his comfort zone eventually, but dramatic turns could be the way forward from here.