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Yep, that's Kevin Garnett and Mike Francesa in the trailer for Adam Sandler's gritty new drama

September 24, 2019
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We know what you're thinking. Good God, another Adam Sandler movie. Can't this guy just ride off into the sunset on a stallion made of money already? Hasn't he terrorized the medium of film enough? Despite our hardwired soft spot for Happy Gilmore, we can't you blame you either. The man has spent the better part of the 21st century defecating on film reels (Don't Mess With the Zoltan, Grown Ups, Grown Ups 2, The Ridiculous 6) for a living. But having said all that, his latest comeback, Uncut Gems, looks different. Very different.

Starring Sandler in a dramatic turn as a New York jeweler to the rich and famous who gets in over his head with, you guessed it, a little sports gambling habit, Uncut Gems has stirred up some serious buzz on the festival circuit. Lauded indie studio A24 has also been on an absolute heater lately and we know Sandler has the chops for this stuff when properly applied (see: Punch Drunk Love, The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)). But the real reason were excited for yet another "gritty crime drama starring a guy you didn't think would star in a gritty crime drama," is the fact Kevin Freakin' Garnett and The Loop's favorite soundbite factory Mike Francesa both feature prominently in the trailer.

Francesa, in the role he was born to play, is Sandler's bookie, while Kevin Garnett, in what appears to be a much larger chunk of screen time, plays anything-is-possible-era Kevin Garnett. “I told them [directors Josh and Benny Safdie] that if I couldn’t play myself, I didn’t think that I could be in this movie,” Garnett told Deadline. And when Kevin Garnett speaks, you listen.

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The rest of the cast is rounded out by Atlanta's Lakeith Stanfield, The Weeknd, and Idina Menzel. For their sake we hope KG kept the on-set trash talk under control. Uncut Gems hits theaters on December 13th and is sure to be the most New York holiday movie since Miracle on 34th Street.