With Joaquin Pheonix’s polarizing portrayal of the Arthur Fleck in the Todd Phillips’ Joker movie still fresh in our minds, it hard to imagine anyone topping his performance, but after receiving nominations for both an Indie Spirit Award and Gotham Award over the past few weeks, Adam Sandler has quickly emerged as a dark horse contender for a Best Actor nomination at the 92nd Academy Awards.
Although it might be hard to believe given his track record over the past 10 or 20 years, Sandler’s most recent performance as Howard Ratner in Josh and Benny Safdie’s latest film about a loudmouthed jewelry store owner and compulsive gambler whose life is sparingly out of control… is nothing short of brilliant. As a matter of fact, after watching the film, Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter called it Sandler’s “best performance.”
Source: Screenshot via A24/Netflix“Many will agree that this is Sandler’s best performance, and the Safdies will finally move from the fringes of the commercial film scene to somewhere closer to the center.”