I'm frankly surprised how many lukewarm/bad reviews people are posting on here. I thought I was going to be on an island, considering how many top ten lists this made. I also kind of thought it would get a lot of love from regular guys because it seems kind of like a "bro" movie.
Usually when you see a disconnect between critical acclaim and public reaction, it's because it's some kind of high concept art-house fare, or in today's age, promotes some aspect of woke agenda. However, this movie is about as low-minded as it gets, is extremely guy-centric, and is pretty much a dictionary definition of a celebration of toxic masculinity.
I'm almost completely flummoxed by the critical plaudits for this thing. The only thing I can see is that from a strictly filmmaking perspective, it is a pretty impressive exercise in visceral momentum, sort of the cinematic equivalent of being on a runaway train. That's tough to deny, even if you don't like the movie that much, and that isn't an easy thing to accomplish...there is a mastery to that.
Alfred Hitchock said about North by Northwest:
Hitch took me to dinner and he suddenly got very serious. He said, "Ernie, you know, we're not making a movie. We're constructing an organ the kind of organ that you see in a theater. And we press this chord and now the audience laughs. And we press that chord, and they gasp. And we press these notes, and they chuckle." He said, "Someday we won't have to make the movie. We'll just attach them to electrodes and play the various emotions for them to experience in the theater."
There's a lot of that going on in Uncut Gems, and I wonder if recognizing that accomplishment is what critics are responding to.
