Adam Sandler's enduring love of the NBA is an affair which demands a court-side seat. Often spotted at games not far from fellow Knicks devotee Spike Lee, Sandler is a lifelong fan even despite growing up surrounded by Boston Celtics lovers. True commitment.
The actor's leading role in the Safdie brothers' anxiety-inducing 2019 film Uncut Gems, which featured ‘The Big Ticket’ Kevin Garnett, played out against the backdrop of the NBA playoffs and circled around an audacious bet. Now, for his latest feature for the streamer, the Sandman plays Stanley Sugarman, a talent scout for the Philadelphia 76ers, in Hustle.
Sugarman is a former university basketball star whose career was cut short by a car accident and who has toiled away behind the scenes for 30 years, slowly realising how time on the road has taken a toll on him and his relationship with his wife Teresa (Queen Latifah). Sugarman spends his days travelling the world in search of the next Dirk Nowitzki, who, for the uninitiated, led the Dallas Mavericks to 15 NBA playoff appearances and stayed with the team for his entire 21-year career.
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The movie, which landed on Netflix yesterday, is already earning praise for Sandler's dramatic chops in another weighty role and the way it explores both the machinations of the NBA and the parallels with the entertainment industry, two things Sandler is well versed in.
Director Jeremiah Zagar has spoken about using the Martin Scorsese classic Raging Bull as inspiration for the intensity of the contests, telling The Playlist: “Raging Bull is a series of fights –four, and each one is stylistically different. We thought, ‘Maybe we can imbue an emotional idea visually and sensorially. So, we looked at ‘Raging Bull’ and stole everything we could.”
We are in the midst of a frenzy of b-ball related entertainment hitting the small screen, a trend arguably started by the 2020 ESPN miniseries about the Chicago Bulls' seminal Nineties run of wins, The Last Dance. This year has seen the release of two series about the storied history of the LA Lakers: one a stylised drama from HBO and Adam McKay, Winning Time, the other the Apple TV doc They Call Me Magic, about the enigma that is Magic Johnson.
Unlike those that came before it, Hustle's tale of Sugarman is spun from fiction, but Sandler's extensive knowledge of the politics of the NBA and the history of Philly's Sixers means the story has plenty of reality to keep it grounded.
Your evening's entertainment just got game.
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