An uninspired but watchable sports story
Film critic Jason Evans is on a mission to tell you
everything you need to know about movies before the shot clock expires. His
reviews are exactly 100 words long (99 is not enough but 101 is too much). Here
is his 100-word review of Netflix’s Hustle.
The Premise: Stanley Sugarman (Adam Sandler) has spent his
entire career on the road as a basketball scout for the Philadelphia 76ers. He
desperately wants to spend more time with his wife (Queen Latifah) and daughter
and sees an assistant coaching job as the way to be more grounded. The team’s
owner (Ben Foster) tells him that if he finds one more superstar prospect, the
coaching gig is his. And when Stanley finds Bo Cruz (NBA player Juancho Hernangomez)
playing street ball in Spain, he knows this is the one! But Bo has issues that
may make it impossible for him and Stanley to realize their NBA dreams. The
film is produced by Lebron James and includes dozens of NBA players in cameo
roles.
The 100 Words: There’s nothing terribly wrong with Hustle, but there’s nothing all that right about it either. The story follows a predictable path and the characters are paper thin. The entire middle third is little more than a series of extended basketball training montages. But, I wasn’t bored while watching it and it is always nice to see Sandler stretch himself a bit by not doing slapstick comedy. You can tell everyone involved had a good time making this film and NBA fans will get a chuckle out of the dozens of cameos from very recognizable basketball stars, both past and present.
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