Hustle

Queen Latifah, Juancho Hernangomez, Robert Duvall, and Ben Foster co-star in Hustle, a sports drama about a basketball scout finding his way back to his ...

Between the sincerity shared by Sandler and Hernangomez and the high-level craft, Hustle provides enough diversions to hoist our hearts high, even if we wind up craving more specificity from these characters and their travails. And while the movie partly suffers for it, Hustle is still effectively tender. (Why none of these athletes spot the 6’9” Bo as a ringer stretches the imagination.) Bo is a single father who wants a better life for his young daughter, Lucia, and uses basketball as a solution. Hustle is decidedly glitzier and bigger than Zagar’s previous film, the critical indie darling We the Animals. It deploys an all-star ensemble, ingenious camerawork, and sharp editing to uplift a cliché story about earnest fatherhood and distant hoop dreams. But Stanley is tired of the road. And Sandler as weary NBA scout Stanley is the film’s rousing compass.

"Hustle" doesn't score any points for originality. Yet Adam Sandler's latest Netflix film -- produced with, among others, LeBron James -- mostly works in ...

, Sandler is in his element as the shambling scout with a wealth of knowledge at his disposal but not always the courage to speak up. They include, but aren't limited to, Julius Erving, Dirk Nowitzki, Doc Rivers, and TNT's Kenny Smith, the last actually playing a character and, like Hernangómez, doing a perfectly fine job of it. Here, Sandler's Stanley Sugerman is a well-traveled scout for the Philadelphia 76ers, who stumbles on a streetball hustler in Spain, Bo Cruz (NBA player Juancho Hernangómez), whose lockdown defensive skills prompt Stanley to describe the guy more than once as being "like Scottie Pippen and a wolf had a baby."

Hustle, a passion project for Adam Sandler now streaming on Netflix, works its smooth moves and ends with a satisfying whoosh.

Watching him learn to fight for what he wants is one of the movie’s quiet pleasures. He’s been at it a long time and he’s tired of the endless travel, which takes him away from his wife, Teresa (Latifah), and teenage daughter, Alex (Jordan Hull), for long stretches. Defying orders, Stanley brings Bo back to Philly anyway, putting him up in a hotel at his own expense. This wunderkind’s name is Bo Cruz (played by Hernangómez), and he lives with his mother and young daughter (Mariá Botto and Ainhoa Pillet), supporting them by doing construction work. Only after Stanley manages to seal the deal does he get bad news from his boss: Vince doesn’t like the look of the kid and wants Stanley to keep searching. Yet somehow director Jeremiah Zagar and his actors—among them Queen Latifah and pro basketball player Juancho Hernangómez, making his movie debut—manage to inflict a kind of magical amnesia, making you forget you’ve already seen it all just before they show it to you all over again.

Things could have gone either way for Hustle, the shot-in-Philly Adam Sandler basketball flick. Here are some Hustle reviews.

A look at Hustle reviews around the country show that a lot of people are enjoying this movie. AV Club: “Sports-themed movies are at their best when they focus on the human-interest story at their core. “It looks terrible.” That’s what a basketball-loving colleague told me after he saw the trailer for Hustle, the brand-new Adam Sandler basketball movie that was shot in Philadelphia. And, as I told Hustle director Jeremiah Zagar, a Philly native, I didn’t think I was going to like it either.

Adam Sandler and the Utah Jazz player Juancho Hernangómez lead an unsentimental sports drama in which success is tenuous and one mistake can derail a dream.

Anthony Edwards, the Minnesota Timberwolves’s 20-year-old rising star known as Ant-Man ( himself the No. 1 draft pick in 2020), excels in the riskiest role as a trash-talking villain who deserves to have a sweat sock shoved in his mouth. The glowering N.B.A. goofball Boban Marjanovic, of the Dallas Mavericks, gets in several good quips as an aspirant who shaves a decade off his age, and the player-turned-commentator Kenny Smith capably handles a sizable part as a high-powered agent. Cruz and Stanley’s mental and physical preparations for the draft are an uphill struggle in the literal sense, with Stanley shaking his prospect awake at 4 a.m. to run the streets of Philadelphia while shouting obscenities at him to thicken his skin. It casually clocks the rainbow of Lamborghinis outside an arena parking lot without going in for a belabored close-up. In real life, Hernangómez is a power forward for the Utah Jazz. Onscreen, he’s a breezy, quietly charismatic presence who allows Sandler to do the bellowing, then delivers a punchline right to the ribs. Fewer than 500 players are in the N.B.A. at any given time; gathered together, the players who have ascended to its ranks since it was founded in 1946 would not even come close to filling up Madison Square Garden. In the movie, Adam Sandler, a real-life devotee of the game, plays a weary scout for the Philadelphia 76ers named Stanley Sugerman who has spent his life sizing up potential rookies by their height, wingspan, speed and emotional fortitude.

By now you'd think you know what you're getting with an Adam Sandler sports movie.

But for a sport that has only occasionally been captured authentically by the movies, “Hustle” has genuine flow. "Hustle,” a Netflix release, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for language. Some might say “Hustle” verges close to NBA advertisement, but Zagar, a South Philly native who emerged with the 2018 indie “We the Animals," frames the pros who populate his film like people and players, rather than stars. “Hustle" is a more amiable film, less interested in prying into the underpinnings of the league. With each appearance, the distance between “Hustle” and the actual NBA grows increasingly small. Starring Sandler as a road-weary NBA scout and with several teams' worth of all-stars in cameos, “Hustle” has a surprisingly good handle and feel for the game.

The Netflix comedy-drama mines the star's obsession with the game, as well as his experiences in the entertainment industry.

The essentially documentary element of the fine points of basketball is the core charm of “Hustle,” extending also to the hard-nosed view of Stanley’s professional life and the web of connections that is fundamental to his ability to get things done. I need you to finish through the contact”; “It’s you against you out there, and right now you is kicking your ass”; “It’s about the next shot and the next shot and the next shot”; “A good player knows where he is on the court. Bo, though clearly a star in the making (Stanley says, “The kid is like if Scottie Pippen and a wolf had a baby”), doesn’t yet have the physical conditioning, the mental outlook, or the skill set of players who can turn pro—players who, at colleges in the U.S. or on international teams, have had the benefit of infrastructure and coaching. “Hustle” is in the genre of avocational cinema, in which the star combines his passion for basketball with his understanding that it’s also a business—and with his experience of the entertainment industry at large. That’s what he does in Judd Apatow’s “ Funny People,” in the role of a famous comedian, and in the Safdie brothers’ “ Uncut Gems,” in the role of a bling jeweller with a sports-gambling problem. Vince orders Stanley to cut ties with Bo, but Stanley is sure of the young man’s ability and character, and has already made a commitment to him and to his mother (María Botto). Stanley takes matters into his own hands: he quits to develop Bo’s talent independently in preparation for the N.B.A. draft.

Luka Doncic is one of the many NBA players to have made a cameo in the LeBron James and Adam Sandler-produced movie 'Hustle'. The movie is a Netflix ...

His portrayal of basketball in 'Uncut Gems', which featured Kevin Garnett, was great, and Hustle is proving to be an incredibly enjoyable watch for basketball fans. Boban Marjanovic is a part of the movie as a '22-year-old' player. During a montage of them showing the clips go viral, Doncic appears and says, “Holy s**t! Bo Cruz! Where did this kid come from?”.

In the drama, big-time basketball fan Sandler plays Stanley Sugerman, a down on his luck Philadelphia 76ers talent scout, who finds himself fighting to save his ...

The former NBA player began his coaching career in 1999 with the Orlando Magic and won Coach of the Year during his first season with the team. The eccentric Goldstein, known for his unique fashion sense, has never played basketball, but he’s a NBA legend in his own right. The “Big Serbian” is the first player Stanley meets in the opening scene of Hustle. He claims he’s 22 years old, the maximum age a player can be to enter the draft, and that a “big fire” destroyed his birth certificate. The two-time MVP and Rookie of the Year joined the Chicago Sky in 2021. Thybulle has played for the 76ers since entering the League in 2019 and has become known for his defensive prowess. In Stevens’ first year as president, the Celtics managed to make it to the 2022 NBA Finals. Known as the “ Round Mound of Rebound,” the former Phoenix Suns player was an 11-time All Star and was named the League’s MVP in 1993. The former Laker and commentator on Inside the NBA is one of Bo’s famous fans. The former Toronto Raptors star who helped Drake’s favorite NBA team win its first championship in 2019, shows up in the film to watch Bo hoop and throw a little shade. The problem is, Stanley seems to be the only one in Philly who believes the young athlete has the goods to make it in the NBA. On his journey, he runs into basketball icons, members of the current 76ers roster, and Anthony Edwards. No, not the actor who plays Goose in Top Gun, but the young star of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Viewers first see the Philadelphia 76ers legend slam dunking at the age of 63 in a viral video Stanley shows his teenage daughter. Not all of the current and former NBA stars in the film play themselves, which gives these guys a chance to really show off their acting skills.

Watch our interviews with Netflix's 'Hustle' cast, including Adam Sandler, Juancho Hernangomez, Anthony Edwards and Director Jeremiah Zagar.

Adam Sandler and Juancho Hernangómez star in 'Hustle,' the Netflix basketball drama set in Philadelphia. The movie was co-produced by Sandler's Happy Madison ...

One of the joys of "Hustle" is watching Sandler's ownership of a role that mixes his bull****ing humor with his penchant for creating warm moments. But with Sixers fans calling for Doc Rivers' head and Hernangómez watching the Celtics in the NBA Finals, from home, it's clear that the real-life sports world is even more cutthroat and fast-paced than a movie could hope to capture. If there's a solid message here beyond the fashionable fun of NBA fan fiction and elevating Philadelphia as a showpiece, it's that the dreams we have are fragile enough on their own. The scout is mesmerized and makes a fool of himself trying to track Cruz down. The player explains to Sugerman that he lost his temper when the mother of their daughter got a new boyfriend, who wanted to take custody of the girl in order to get government benefits. Sugerman, we learn, severely injured his hand in a drunk driving crash while he was a college player at Temple. His teammate Leon Rich, played by Kenny "The Jet" Smith, also was in the car and missed the rest of the college season. Here, Sandler is the fat old guy who takes all of the jokes at his expense in stride, dishing them out crudely and liberally on his own, no matter how corny they may be. The city's murals, gymnasiums and the ritzy Loews Hotel in Center City all give Sandler's movie a sense of place that makes the setting visually memorable. At just less than two hours in runtime, "Hustle" is a little longer than expected, which may put some viewers off, but anyone from Philadelphia certainly will savor the city's screen time. For Sandler, 55, working on movies like "Hustle" now appears to be the dream, every bit as much as taking down Shooter McGavin and igniting brown bags of poop were his happy adventures in the 1990s. Best sports fans in the world," Sugerman tells Cruz when they arrive from Spain. "Actually, the worst, but that's what makes them the best." The training scenes are some of the more standout sequences in the movie, flashing Hernangómez's physical gifts and delivering the endless satisfaction of basketballs splashing through hoops.

The Netflix Adam Sandler movie 'Hustle' features cameos from NBA stars past and present, from Philadelphia 76ers royalty to superfans, analysts, ...

Stanley and Bo both get a happy ending, with Stanley promoted to 76ers assistant coach and Bo drafted by the Celtics. But before the two face off on the court, Stanley is retrieved from his office by Rivers, the current coach of the 76ers, who made the All-Star Game as a player and won a championship with the Celtics as a coach. The film ends with Stanley reunited with Tobias Harris, and he gives his new player advice on how to stop his old player. Stanley shows his daughter a real video of Dr. J dunking at 63 years old, which inspires the “Boa Challenge,” and the icon himself goes to a local Philly court to introduce Bo and the future social-media craze. After stalking Bo back to his home, Stanley attempts to prove he’s not just some random weirdo by using FaceTime to call the greatest European player in NBA history. Joined by assistants Joerger and Demps, Rivers and Stanley walk through the tunnel of the Wells Fargo Center and onto the court for the latter’s big debut. Like Hernangómez, Wagner has recently bounced around and is already on his fourth team, but on the Orlando Magic, he has been paired with his talented younger brother, Franz, a fellow Michigan alum and first-round pick. Hyped as “the German MJ,” the highly touted foreigner that Stanley speaks out against drafting indeed proves to be a bust, but the actor behind Haas has plenty of game. But the towering presence of Hernangómez is just the beginning of Hustle’s decorated team, with lots of the NBA’s brightest stars past and present taking part in the film. Hell or High Water standout Ben Foster, known for his intense dramatic work, stars as the obnoxious 76ers owner who just inherited the team from his late father, while former No. 1 overall pick Anthony Edwards takes on the role of Kermit Wilts, a projected top-three selection who continuously makes it his mission to get inside Bo’s head. But the rookie actor brings a quiet vulnerability to Bo that he can only hope will earn him one of those valuable recurring spots in the Sandler Extended Universe. Non–NBA watchers may recognize Marjanović from John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum, in which his hit-man character, Ernest, is memorably killed in a showdown with Wick (Keanu Reeves) at the New York Public Library. While many of the appearances are so quick and random they would fly past the untrained NBA fan’s eye, others are pivotal to the story.

The comedian turned serious actor gamely blends those two halves in Netflix's new basketball drama.

It’s funny to see the logo for Sandler’s production company, Happy Madison, play before a movie like Hustle. All the brash silliness of Happy Gilmore and Billy Madison feels so far away at this point. Because this is a later-career Sandler movie, though, the grind is not quite as grinding as it might be elsewhere. The main chemistry of the movie, though, is between Sandler and Hernangómez, the latter playing Bo, a protege plucked out of obscurity in Spain. He lives a hardscrabble life with his mother and his young daughter, and while the brass at the Sixers (most notably Ben Foster’s bratty scion Vince) don’t approve, Stanley sees great potential in this hulking, elborately tattooed kid with a troubled past. Hustle is a decidedly more mainstream film than that, but Zagar effectively applies some of his indie tricks to this soft-bro streaming material. There is usually a disarming bonhomie to Sandler movies—even amid the desperate maneuvering of Uncut Gems, an insistently affable air kept us engaged. As its closing credits make abundantly clear, there are a lot of basketball people in the new film Hustle (on Netflix now): current players, past legends, coaches, sportscasters, managers, and probably a few other industry types playing themselves or slightly fictionalized figures.