Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Hustle’ on Netflix, a Basketball Dramedy in Which Adam Sandler Gives Us a Reason Not to Dunk on Him

Hustle is the latest in Adam Sandler’s longstanding Netflix deal, which at last coughs up something that isn’t a slapdash comedy (see: The Ridiculous 6, Sandy Wexler, Murder Mystery, and the relatively well-received Hubie Halloween). He plays a pro basketball scout who puts his career on the line for a Spanish streetball prospect, played by real-life NBA player Juancho Hernangomez. It has all the makings of a BOATS (Based On A True Story) movie, but it actually isn’t, instead foregoing all the faux-inspirational hooey for Rocky-esque fiction spiced with a zillion cameos from current and former NBA stars (LeBron James is a credited producer). So this is Relatively Serious Sandler, another welcome display of his dramatic prowess, and if the movie isn’t exactly as inspired as Uncut Gems, it at least gives him more – much more – to do than just lazily deliver half-written jokes. And for that we should be thankful.

HUSTLE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Hustle hits us early on with a travel montage: Stanley Sugerman (Sandler) in airports and hotels and gyms and arenas, scoping out basketball players and subsisting on greezy fast food. He sloughs around like he’s been doing this forever, which is pretty much true. He’s a one-time player with big scars on his hand, which may explain why he’s not playing anymore and working as a scout for the Philadelphia 76ers. He crosses off one dud after another on his list, and the best guy is only a maybe. He powwows with the Merrick family ownership brass, including owner Rex (Robert Duvall), son Vince (Ben Foster) and daughter Kat (Heidi Gardner). Stanley butts heads with Vince, who wants to draft the maybe-player against Stanley’s advice. The old man ultimately sides with Stanley; there’s a mutually affectionate surrogate father-son dynamic here. Rex pulls Stanely aside and promotes him to assistant coach and hugs him and Stanley goes home to his wife Teresa (Queen Latifah) and daughter Alex (Jordan Hull) and they celebrate because he’s finally achieved his dream of getting a spot at the end of the bench. And then Rex dies, because that’s how things go for sad sack Stanley.

THREE MONTHS LATER. The player Vince wanted to draft but Stanley didn’t? He’s kinda not working out. Doesn’t matter. Vince is an arrogant prick, and in these situations, arrogant pricks don’t admit their mistakes, and instead demote Stanley back to scout and laugh about how our protagonist is going to miss yet another of his daughter’s birthdays because he’ll be back on the road all the time. Vince gives Stanley a goal: Find the team’s missing piece, and he’ll get the coaching gig back. So off sloughs Stanley, to another bucket of KFC in another hotel in another foreign country. Everything sucks until he’s in Spain and happens upon a streetball game and spots a player who’s electrifying a big crowd of onlookers until another guy comes along and smothers him. That other, smothering guy is Bo Cruz (Hernangomez). Stanley follows him home and before you know it, Bo is on the plane back to Philly, hoping to go allllll the way to the NBA.

This is a big ask, especially considering the owner is a big ass. Has Bo played in an organized league recently? Does he have a clean criminal record? Does he have all the fundamentals? No, no, no, in that order. But Stanley has seen a zillion basketball players in his day, and Bo is “a unicorn, a mythical creature!” – and unicorns are worth quitting your job over, and using every ounce of professional capital you’ve acquired over the years to get the guy a spot at the combine. Stanley foots the bill for all of it, and is lucky Teresa is more supportive than skeptical. Now, stand by for training montages and scrimmages and blown opportunities followed by pleading for second chances. And are we going to get into Bo’s assault charge, and what happened to Stanley’s hand? Yes and yes, in that order, because everyone’s had their hardships, and no inspirational sports story, even non-BOATS ones, can exist without them.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Hustle sidesteps the usual coaching/sportsball drama because Stanley Sugerman is a scout who wants to be a coach – got you on a technicality there. What it more closely resembles is a blend of sports agent movies Jerry Maguire and Million Dollar Arm.

Performance Worth Watching: This definitely isn’t Uncut Gems Sandler, or Punch-Drunk Love Sandler, or even Funny People Sandler. It’s more like Spanglish Sandler – pretty good for him, but also pretty good not for just him.

Memorable Dialogue: “Guys in their 50s don’t have dreams. They have nightmares. And eczema.” – Stanley

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: Hustle is your typical sports underdog movie giving us pumped-up montages, rah-rah speeches, swelling music and no doubt whatsoever that the plot ball will bounce around the rim a few times before falling through for a reasonably satisfying two points. It’s enjoyably formulaic, and hinges wholly on Sandler, who digs in and finds real heart in Stanley Sugerman. He’s funny, he’s sad, he’s confident, he’s pathetic – but he’s never beaten down, holds true affection for his young prospect and is still in love with the game. It’s a terrific Sandler performance, one that isn’t going to change the world, but also one that you can’t see anyone else pulling off quite like this.

Sandler’s chemistry with Hernangomez is endearing, layered and complex, each representing the key to the other’s dream, but never offering any easy routes to the basket, so to speak. Latifah is another warm presence, and even though her character is underwritten and underappreciated, she and Sandler share a modest dynamic spark as a loving, mutually supportive couple. The cast elevates a movie that, with its non-stop cameos (and a end-credits sequence that’s literally a “(fill-in-the-blank) as himself” highlight reel) otherwise often feels like a shameless slab of hooray-for-the-NBA marketing fodder. I’m sure there’s a chunk of overlap in the Venn diagram of Sandler and basketball fans; for them, Hustle is a bullseye.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Hustle isn’t an all-timer, or even a one-time champion. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t a winner.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com.