I’m not entirely convinced that the executives at Netflix actually watch basketball. For if they did, they may have realized that releasing their brand new basketball movie, Hustle, in the middle of the NBA Finals and two weeks before the draft, wasn’t their strongest course of action. Surely, waiting until September to release the film - a time when basketball fans aren’t so inundated with the sport already and there’s an actual yearning for more basketball content - would have made more sense. Luckily for Netflix, there are a lot of Adam Sandler fans in the world. And there’s people like me: the basketball obsessives.

We’re the type that don’t care when you release your basketball movie. We’ll watch it. We freebase old NBA games and rank our top thirty draft prospects. You don’t need Adam Sandler to sell us your basketball movie, even if it is during the height of actual basketball glory. “Obsession’s gonna beat talent, everytime,” Sandler lectures at one point in Hustle. Clearly, he understands the hoop junkies like me. 

That’s because Sandler - like most everyone involved in the making of Hustle - is a no-holds-barred basketball enthusiast; and Hustle is nothing if not a work of obsession. The film follows Stanley Sugarman (Sandler), a scout for the Philadelphia Sixers, who discovers Bo Cruz, a 22-year old Spanish construction worker who happens to be a basketball savant (played by NBAer Juancho Hernangomez). The storyline that follows is basically a live action 2K campaign, filled with derivative narratives, obligatory Philadelphia training montages, two-dimensional pricks, and the highs and lows found in literally every single sports movie. Where Hustle stands out, however, is in its love for the game.

If you’re looking at it as just a film, then it is pretty average, to be sure. But if you take it for what it actually is - a hoop lover’s I Spy - then it rises above the usual crop of mediocre basketball films. For example, I kept a running count of basketball players I recognized while watching. I got to 40. And when the credits rolled, I realized I missed some. Hustle is filled to the brim with basketball stardom. It has some usual suspects playing themselves: the Trae Youngs and Luka Dončićs of the NBA present, the Dr. Js and Shaqs of the NBA past. But it also has some satisfying performances from hoopers who aren’t playing themselves.

Anthony Edwards, the young shooting guard of the Minnesota Timberwolves, takes a star turn as the “villain” of the story. His performance, on and off the court, seriously makes Hustle worth watching. Kenny “The Jet” Smith plays Sandler’s old teammate, Leon. And obviously, Juancho Hernangomez gives a fantastic performance as Bo Cruz - a role that hilariously presupposes “What if Juancho Hernangomez was as good at basketball as Anthony Edwards?” (For any non-basketball fans out there wondering, he isn’t. Don’t believe everything you see in movies.) 

For the basketball maniac in me, the man who fills spreadsheets with statistics and anxiously awaits every evening’s slate of games, Hustle is a wonderland. For the film critic in me, a man that is admittedly less fun at parties, it’s simply a breeze. Nothing challenging. Nothing exceptional. A competent movie made by talented people. But, just as Stanley Sugarman opined, obsession trumps talent, everytime. For Hustle, obsession wins out.

Acting/Casting - 1 | Visual Effects and Editing - 1 | Story and Message - 1 | Entertainment Value - 2 | Music Score and Soundtrack - 1 | Reviewer’s Preference - 2 | What does this mean?