'Hustle': Adam Sandler's new basketball drama on Netflix sticks to a familiar playbook

If Boston fans believed they’d seen the last of disgruntled ex-Celtic Juancho Hernangómez, beware: He’s baaack! But this time, you might find yourself actually warming to the towering Spaniard as the “next big thing” in Adam Sandler’s latest crowd-pleaser, “Hustle.” Given he averaged only one point per game during his brief tenure on the Celtics’ climb to this year’s NBA Finals, it’s probably safe to say Hernangómez's acting is better than his basketball prowess as a 6-foot-9 Rocky Balboa-type ascending the hills and steps of Philadelphia.

Yes, you’ve seen this movie before – too many times. Director Jeremiah Zagar and writers Will Fetters (“A Star Is Born”) and Taylor Materne follow the “Rocky” formula to a fault, complete with umpteen training montages and a superior, trash-talking rival potentially derailing our hero’s dreams of achieving wealth and status in the City of Brotherly Love. Will he get there? Well, let’s just say Hernangómez’s Bo Cruz fares better than his alter-ego did with the Celtics. Ensuring that inevitable success is Sandler’s world-weary NBA scout, Stanley Sugerman.

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He’s this enterprise’s version of Burgess Meredith’s Mickey, endlessly pushing the prospect he nicknames “the Cruz Missile” to be a better man and even greater athlete in the wake of his initial rejection by the NBA. You half expect this lovable lug to cross paths with Philly’s other lovable lug amid a series of predawn training regimens set to inspirational music supplied by Dan Deacon, who can’t hold a tune to “Rocky’s” Bill Conti.

The trio of relatively inexperienced filmmakers essentially flip the “Rocky” perspective from the athlete to the trainer to accommodate Sandler’s status as “Hustle’s” chief producer and star. To his credit, this is “good” Adam Sandler, the one from “Uncut Gems” and “The Meyerowitz Stories,” not the goofball clown of “Little Nicky” infamy. But as fine an actor as Sandler is, he’s no match for a lazy script failing to suffuse Stanley Sugerman with an inkling of inner light. We only discern he’s an overworked “good man” because his wife (Queen Latifah) and aspiring filmmaker daughter, Alex (Jordan Hull), tell us so.

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There’s also Robert Duvall as Philadelphia team owner Rex Merrick, and a Greek chorus of current and former NBA stars to apprise us of Stanley’s sterling reputation as the ultimate judge of the world’s best basketball talent. It is, however, an opinion not shared by Merrick’s son, Vince (Ben Foster), a spoiled, vindictive brat who, for unexplained reasons, has it out for the 76ers’ top scout and his latest “find.” And that sort of ambiguity is a recurring liability in “Hustle,” as it eagerly creates conflicts without establishing context. For instance, why does Vince dislike Stanley, a guy who has done nothing but good for his dad’s team? And why does fellow hotshot prospect Kermit Wilts (Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards) have it in for Cruz in the weeks leading up to the NBA draft?  It’s anybody’s guess because those queries are never answered.

The film also suffers sporadically from a plodding pace, yet it marginally grabs you in no small part due to the easy chemistry between Hernangómez and Sandler. They create an endearing bromance that cuts across vast differences in age, culture and life experiences. Watching them come to understand each other is ultimately rewarding, but why does it take so long to get there? That onus falls upon the filmmakers, who can’t resist splicing copious shots of Hernangómez sinking high-arcing 3-pointers and thundering slam dunks. And did we really need TWO “big games” at the end?

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It’s the multitudinous montages of Hernangómez running up the same hill, though, that prove most exhausting. Why Zagar preferred going in that “Rocky” direction instead of affording his intriguing characters more dimensionality is a head-scratcher. He’s assembled a terrific ensemble of amateurs and pros but never knows what to do with them. That’s particularly true of the host of cameos he feverishly shoehorns in, from Allen Iverson to Dirk Nowitzki to Julius “Dr. J” Erving as the movie’s modicum of gravitas. It’s great to see them all, but what do they really add?

At least “Hustle” is a hundred times better than last summer’s deflated basketball romp, “Space Jam: A New Legacy.” But that’s like saying Danny Ainge was a better guard than Rick Carlisle. Neither was relative in the larger scheme of things, but one was clearly better than the other. Despite such meager aspirations, “Hustle” boasts an assortment of pleasures, from the affable Latifah, as Sandler’s age-appropriate wife, to the well-established tradition of Celtics players possessing a knack for acting.

This brings me to wonder, why is it that so many Celtics – Chuck Connors, Rick Fox, Ray Allen – are able to make the fast break from the parquet to Tinseltown? Could it be the leprechaun? The ghost of Red Auerbach? Whatever the charm, discovering it could make for a fine movie, certainly a mite better than this one. It’s not quite an air ball, but assuredly it’s no swish.

'Hustle'

Rated: R for language

Cast: Adam Sandler, Juancho Hernangómez, Queen Latifah, Ben Foster, Robert Duvall, Kenny Smith, Anthony Edwards and Heidi Gardner. 

Director: Jeremiah Zagar

Writers: Will Fetters and Taylor Materne

Runtime: 118 minutes

Where to watch: Netflix beginning June 8

Grade: B-

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This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Adam Sandler's basketball drama Hustle sticks to familiar playbook