Uncut Gems Ending: Apparently Adam Sandler Is Still Getting 'Yelled' At Months Later

Adam Sandler as Howard Ratner in Uncut Gems
(Image credit: (A24))

Big spoilers are ahead for Adam Sandler’s critically-acclaimed movie Uncut Gems. Seriously, don’t read any further until you’ve seen the Safdie Brothers’ movie.

Last year, Uncut Gems blew our minds. It was real high on the best of 2019 rankings and continues to be a conversation starter since its reign on Netflix queues. Here’s the thing, Uncut Gems also blew the brains out of one Howard Ratner, and we’re not over it. But don’t worry, Adam Sandler still gets a mouthful about the nail-biting finale all the time.

While speaking with Seth Meyers, the late night talk show host shared with Adam Sandler his attempts to watch Uncut Gems with his parents, who are massive fans of “The Sandman.” Due to the movie being the anxiety-induced ride that it is, they turned the movie off. Here’s what Sandler said in response:

I agree with your parents. It’s too intense. I know. Certainly my mother, my mother-in-law, anybody over a certain age, it’s just like ‘Oh, that ending, that was too much. I didn’t need to see that.’ I got yelled at the other day on the set, here, a guy telling me, ‘Man, why’d they do that to you at the end of Gems?’ Like, and I have to defend that ending. It had to happen.

Sounds like Adam Sandler is not living that Uncut Gems ending down anytime soon. After the film runs the audience around on a non-stop rollercoaster as Sandler’s New York jeweler attempts to pay back a huge debt to its angry collectors, the finale has him getting in the green. Howard bets big on a Boston Celtics game and wins a whopping $1.2 million thanks to his luck. But once he lets the collectors loose from the other side of the door he had them locked in to celebrate the win, Keith William Richards’ Phil shoots him anyway and Howard instantly dies on the floor.

As Adam Sandler explained on Late Night with Seth Meyers, he’s defending the ending all the time, explaining how it “had to happen” to Howard despite the movie offering us an ounce of hope in between the stressful game he bet on and the shot in the head. The fact that people are still talking to him about it nearly a year after its release is just about enough to be his case in point too.

Adam Sandler is currently filming another basketball-centric story called Hustle for Netflix. The dramedy will star the actor as a washed-up basketball scout who discovers a player from abroad who he believes will get him back into the NBA game. The movie for Netflix has a huge cast including Queen Latifah, Robert Duvall, Ben Foster, Juancho Hernangomez, Jordan Hull, Maria Botto, Ainhoa Pillet and Kenny Smith.

Adam Sandler recently returned to his comfortable world of comedy with Hubie Halloween, which has been a big hit on Netflix during spooky season, currently holding at the streaming platform’s Top 10 list two weeks into its release. Check out what’s coming next to Netflix in November with CinemaBlend’s list of movies and TV shows.

Sarah El-Mahmoud
Staff Writer

Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.