Hustle (2022)

Jack and I loved this story of a basketball scout, yearning to become a coach, and his Spanish protegé. Adam Sandler is terrific as Stanley and Juancho Hernangomez, an actual pro basketball player, is quite good as Bo. Supporting strength comes from Queen Latifah, Ben Foster, Robert Duvall, Heidi Gardner, and a host of athletes and others playing themselves (identified in the credits with photos––don't skip the credits!), among the enormous cast.

Directed by Jeremiah Zagar from a script by Taylor Materne and Will Fetters, it moves right along.

The lively soundtrack by Dan Deacon with the London Contemporary Orchestra & Royal Scottish National Orchestra, available on Apple Music and elsewhere, adds to the fun.

Adam Sandler was last blogged for Uncut Gems, Latifah for Girls Trip, Foster for Leave No Trace, Duvall for Widows, Zagar for We the Animals, and Fetters for A Star Is Born.

Gardner, best known for 99 episodes of SNL, has also been in several movies and lots of TV.  This is Materne's feature debut and my first time hearing music by Deacon, who is not new to the business.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audiences average a bouncy 93. We enjoyed it on Netflix on August 9.