Luckily his big break has come in, a rare uncut black opal smuggled out of Africa which he thinks he can get a million dollars for at auction.
No good will come of this.
CW: gambling addiction
The setup and choice of lead makes this sound like a comedy. It's not.
This is a relentless crazed portrait of addiction that aligns neatly with my abhorrence of gambling.
Howard steps from one lie, grift, swap, bet and pawn to another barely pausing for breath. Sandler's mouth essentially doesn't stop moving for the whole movie. If he's not speaking he's texting.
It's an astonishing performance nothing like the cringe comedy Sandler is known for, but you can see how his skills at that have been neatly repurposed.
He seems dirty even when he's clean and you can imagine how he smells.
The relationship with Julia is the closest to honest he gets.
This whirlwind of toxic behaviour is exhausting, I got 90 minutes in and felt like I'd been watching it three hours.
Highly recommended 9/10 but it's not exactly uplifting.