Hustle: Adam Sandler Dramedy a Winning Homage to Basketball, Family, and Philly

By Karen Gordon

Rating: B+

There’s a teeny bit of Rocky and Million Dollar Arm — and a lot of NBA and Philly love — in Adam Sandler’s warm and easygoing new film, Hustle.

Sandler stars as Stanley Sugerman, a low-key, 50-something long-time scout for the Philadelphia 76ers. His job has kept him on the road, away from his wife Teresa (Queen Latifah) and daughter Alex (Jordan Hull) and the coaching job he longs for.

Sugerman’s talent and love for the team and the city is pure and respected. But those years on the road and time away from his family are wearing him down.

Team owner Rex Merrick (Robert Duvall) sees the fatigue in his star scout and makes a point of encouraging him to continue to fight for what he believes in, even if it means taking a stand against his acidic and arrogant son, Vince Merrick (Ben Foster) who is deliberately obstructing Sugerman.

When Rex dies suddenly and Vince takes over, Sugerman’s goals of being a coach are pushed further down the road. Vince tells him that he’ll earn his coaching position by finding the next big thing.

Back on the road again, Sugerman finds what he believes is a diamond-in-the-rough in Spain, when he randomly runs across a street match where he witnesses Bo Cruz (Juancho Hernangómez). Cruz has passion, talent, but he’s never played organized ball, and at the age of 22 is on the cusp of ineligibility with the NBA. Without the team’s permission, Sugerman brings Cruz back to Philly and stakes his career on this precarious player.

Both Sugerman and Cruz are locked in the usual battles we see in sports films: fighting uphill battles, taking risks, stepping outside of comfort zones, making moral choices, loyalty, honour. There are also overlapping themes of friendship and family that affect other characters and run through various storylines to one degree or another. Besides the different families here, sports are also shown to bring fans together as family.

Hustle is heavy on the basketball action, particularly scrimmages when the hopeful draftees show their moves, going after each other in a competitive drive to show who’s best. Depending on how you feel about basketball versus storyline, the film has a lot of these scenes, arguably too many.

But in its way, the film is also about the love of the game. Director Jeremiah Zagar plus strong editing and really good players doing their thing add realism. Admittedly, there isn’t much about Hustle that will surprise you from a story point of view or via the various themes the movie explores. But that doesn’t diminish its charm.

The cast includes several current and former NBA players. Kenny Smith plays sports agent Leon Rich. NBA star Anthony Edwards plays the talented aggressive player Kermit who sees Cruz as a rival and aims to throw him off his game. Others include Boban Marjanvovic, Seth Curry, Tobias Harris, Trae Young, Aaron Gordon, and former Toronto Raptor Kyle Lowry. LeBron James is one of the film’s producers. Philly rappers Beanie Sigel, Freeway and Tierra Whack are in the film as well.

The casting of the non-player roles is equally canny. Hats off to whoever cast Latifah opposite Sandler. It’s a small support role, but Latifah’s charisma gives Sugerman’s home life punch, and helps anchor his devoted-to-family character.

However modest the character of Sugerman, the film’s success revolves around Sandler. Although he’s been a polarizing actor in some of his comedies, is it a surprise to anyone at this point that he’s an actor capable of depth? We’ve seen what he can do in roles like Uncut Gems, which won him a Spirit Award for best actor.

Sandler is an actor who can own the screen if the role demands it. In Hustle, Sugerman is an ordinary guy, and Sandler plays him that way, making no attempt to draw attention to himself. In fact, he’s the opposite: listening, watching, reacting. In a number of scenes, he’s just another guy in the room. And yet, especially in those scenes, we look for him. He’s our anchor in the film.

Hustle may not surprise you, but that doesn’t detract from its charm. There are mountains for the characters to climb, a sense of connection to others, and other ideas that feel especially rewarding right now.

Hustle. Written by Will Fetter and Taylor Materne. Directed by Jeremiah Zagar. Starring Adam Sandler, Juancho Hernangómez, Ben Foster, Queen Latifah, and Anthony Edwards. Premieres on Netflix June 8.