Adam Sandler and Queen Latifah in Netflix’s ‘Hustle’: Film Review

Adam Sandler so seldom steps far outside his man-child comedy comfort zone

that his more dramatic outings, notably Punch-Drunk Love and Uncut Gems, are uniquely rewarding.

The same goes for the rare comedy in which the actor’s

shtick is contained, channeled into a nuanced characterization,

like Noah Baumbach’s The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected).

There’s pleasure and poignancy watching Sandler in

Hustle as basketball scout Stanley Sugarman, a man whose

infectious passion for the sport keeps hitting a wall of defeat.

Adhering to the formulaic requirements of inspirational sports dramas while