YMMV / Uncut Gems

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• Angst Aversion: A slight variation; the film has attained a reputation for being exceedingly tense and anxiety-inducing, leading to some viewers choosing not to put themselves through it. The endless profanity and Downer Ending don't help.
• Award Snub: The film went completely unnoticed by the Academy Awards, much to the chagrin of many.
  • Considerable online ire was drawn when Adam Sandler, who was considered a formidable contender for Best Actor, didn't get a nomination. He even personally went on record threatening to make the worst movie he could come up with if he didn't get a nod.^note Afterward, several media sites posted joke articles with pitches for said threatened movie. However, the film did win awards from places like the National Board of Review and the Independent Spirit Awards, and judging by the speech Sandler gave accepting the Best Male Lead award at the latter's ceremony, he finds awards like these much more valuable.
    "You know, a few weeks back when I was quote-unquote 'snubbed' by the Academy...it reminded me when I briefly attended high school and was overlooked for the coveted yearbook superlative category 'Best Looking.' That accolade was given to a jean-jacket-wearing featherhead douchebag by the name of Skipper Jenkins. But my classmates did honor me with the allegedly less prestigious designation of 'Best Personality.' And tonight, as I look around this room, I realize the Independent Spirit Awards are the 'Best Personality' awards of Hollywood. Let all those featherhead douchebag motherfuckers get their Oscars tomorrow night; their handsome good looks will fade in time, while our independent personalities will shine on forever!"
  • Daniel Lopatin also went overlooked outright, even though he'd won a Cannes award for Best Soundtrack on the brothers' last movie and was generally considered to have outdone himself.
• Awesome Music:
  • Oneohtrix Point Never (this time credited by his real name Daniel Lopatin) returns with the Safdie brothers once again to create a beautiful and haunting synthesizer-heavy score. Special notice goes to the opening and ending themes, "The Ballad of Howie Bling" and "Uncut Gems" respectively.
  • The club Howard stops by to confront Demany and Julia in definitely has some bangers going on, most notably "The Morning" by The Weeknd in the flesh, and then moments later, Kendrick Lamar's "Swimming Pools", the latter especially notable for playing over Howard attacking The Weeknd.
  • There's also the popular early 2000s club hit "L'Amour Toujours" that plays during the credits — a massive Mood Whiplash indeed.
• Base-Breaking Character: Howard. His love for his family, as well as how truly pathetic he is make him, in spite of his flaws, somewhat sympathetic in some viewers' eyes. Other viewers see him as a sleazy, deeply manipulative piece of shit who deserves everything that comes his way.
• Critical Dissonance: Just like several past films of A24, 92% of the critics on Rotten Tomatoes approved of the film, while general audiences were less favorable, with 52% of the website's verified users approving the film ^note 55% from all users and it receiving a C+ Cinemascore. Reviews on IMDB and Letterboxd were more complimentary, with an 8.1/10 and a 4/5^note 4.3/5 at its highest respectively from its users.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Julia, thanks to her Ms. Fanservice status and her actress’s overall charisma.
  • Kevin Garnett became this with critics and audiences alike thanks to his surprisingly stellar performance As Himself.
• Funny Moments: Despite the tense tone of the film, it has some.
  • Howard's excited reaction when he receives the opal from Ethiopia, exclaiming "Holy shit, I'm gonna cum", with his eyes shrinking in size to surreal effect.
  • And Howard telling Julia to "fuck The Weeknd" after he catches her with him in the bathroom at a club.
  • The image of Adam Sandler and the Weeknd kicking the shit out of each other in a nightclub while "Swimming Pools" plays in the background, both in theory and in practice.
• Genius Bonus: Howard likes Julia's tattoo of his name on her ass, but he comments that it means she can't be buried beside him. This is because many Jewish cemeteries will not accept bodies with tattoos, as those are against the Torah. However, Julia already had several other tattoos before this one, so it wasn't a new issue.
• He Really Can Act:
  • Adam Sandler had already proven how good of an actor he could be, but critics acclaimed his performance here as the best of his career, with him winning Best Actor at the National Board of Review awards.
  • Kevin Garnett was also praised for his role, his first serious role as an actor. Became a Discussed Trope, as he joked about how it would look bad if he couldn't perform well As Himself.
  • Likewise, Julia Fox's performance was brought up as a positive in many reviews and was generally considered a highlight. More impressively? It was her first role.
• Jerkass Woobie: Howard is a self-serving gambling addict who's responsible for his own problems, but it's hard not to feel bad for him as his life constantly gets screwed over, especially when he gets coldly murdered by Phil not long after winning the his ultimate bet.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Many went to see the movie specifically because it features Adam Sandler in a dramatic, critically acclaimed role, which, while not a first, is far from the norm.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "This is how I win."
  • "Do you wanna win by one point or fuckin' thirty points?!"
  • "Holy shit, I'm gonna cum."
  • "I disagree. I disagree, Gary!"
  • "Why the fuck would you show me something if I couldn't have it, then?"
  • Arno menacingly glaring at Howard during the climax.
  • The gold Furby.
  • Not directly from this movie exactly, but there's Sandler threatening to make a bad movie on purpose if Uncut Gems didn't get an Oscar.
  • This on-set picture◊ of Howard chasing down a screaming woman made the rounds with the use of object labeling (see one example here).
  • Dinah's verbal beatdown of Howard led to this video, which puts the audio in the mouth of Elsa, another Idina Menzel character, to roast Franklin from Grand Theft Auto V.
  • The scene where Howard wins his ultimate bet at the end only to be killed by Phil gained a following online for its intense Mood Whiplash, with meme variants including second-by-second audience reactions◊ and using the frame of Howard smiling directly before he's shot◊ out of context.
  • Uncah Jahms.^Explanation In February 2022, Julia Fox gave an interview with Spotify where she pronounced the movie's name in a rather... erm, unusual way, leading to widespread mockery across TikTok and other social media platforms. Fox later claimed that she was incredibly stoned during the interview.
  • "I’d also like to give a shout-out to my fellow nominees, who will now and forever be known as the guys who lost to fucking Adam Sandler."^Explanation This comment from Sandler's acceptance speech at the Independent Spirit Awards quickly gained traction on TikTok as a form of Self-Deprecation (ex: joking about one's significant other choosing to date them instead of someone more attractive).
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • On Howard's part, the reveal that he paid the Ethiopian miners $100,000 for the black opal (at most, a mere tenth of what he thought it was worth), and the callous way he dismisses Kevin Garnett pointing this out to him, seems meant to drive home to the viewer that he's not just a flawed Anti-Hero, but a truly amoral scumbag who cares most about himself and the high he gets from gambling with other peoples' money.
  • Phil crosses it when he coldly shoots Howard dead after the latter wins his ultimate bet and kills his boss Arno for objecting.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • Any scene with Phil, who continually harasses Howard throughout the film. He appears at his daughter's play, making him at unease, before later stripping him and locking him in his car's trunk. And that's not to mention throwing him into a fountain, holding him out of a window, and eventually shooting him and Arno — his boss — after he objects to Howard's death. Holy shit.
  • The unnerving Slasher Smile-esque expression permanently plastering Howard's face following his death.
  • "School Play", which plays when Arno and his gang confront Howard at his kid's school play and force him into the car. The tension in the song just grows and grows with each passing second.
  • Believe it or not, the never-ending swearing counts. The profanity in this movie isn't like a Martin Scorsese movie where it's like "ha ha, famous actor says fuck". No, the amount of swearing is extremely primal to the point where it is one of the biggest contributors the uncomfortable and anxious atmosphere. A good chunk of the film's impressive 561 uses of the word "fuck" are buried under people talking over each other, which itself makes a good chunk of the film's audience uncomfortable.
• Shocking Moments: Howard getting killed off point-blank by Phil, right after winning his ultimate bet.
• Tear Jerker:
  • Howard's breakdown after he gets beaten up by Phil and loses his glasses. And with Demany and Julia no longer on his side, no one is there for him. At this point, Howard is hopeless and doesn't know what to do.
  • Howard's death. He just won the biggest bet of his life, only for him to get shot to death by Phil. Arno is clearly distressed by Phil's actions, and he likewise gets shot by him for objecting to Phil's orders. And that's not to mention the film cutting to Julia and Howard's sons rejoicing at Kevin Garnett's win, before cutting back to Howard's face with a gunshot wound.

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