Uncut Gems, the Safdie Brothers’ latest rip-roaring and tense adventure, has the 7th most F-bombs in any Hollywood production in movie history. Directed by Josh and Benny Safdie, the film follows a charismatic and eccentric Manhattan jeweler named Howard Ratner (portrayed by Adam Sandler) on his self-destructive path of greed and gambling . While the primarily comic actor headlines the film, Uncut Gems features a pleasantly diverse cast of young actors and celebrities making their on-screen debuts, including Julia Fox, Kevin Garnett, The Weeknd, Paloma Elsesser, and Mike Francesca; Frozen and broadway star Idina Menzel, and Sorry to Bother You lead Lakeith Stanfield are also featured in supporting roles.
The A24 film’s tense and explicit nature can be entirely attributed to Howard’s toxic way of live. Not only is his family life tearing apart — he and his wife Dinah (Menzel) are divorcing while he and his girlfriend Julia (Fox) are going through a very serious rough patch — but his excessive gambling only seems to get worse and worse. After his store assistant Demany (Stanfield) brings NBA star Kevin Garnett to the shop, a ridiculous string of bets and silly gambling decisions digs Howard into a deeper and deeper hole of debt. Once there, he has to try and navigate through his brother-in-law’s (Eric Bogosian) loan sharks as well as his own lack of obedience before either catch up with him.
Screen It!, a website parents utilize to find out how family friend a film is – or in this case, is not – has compiled the data and counted all of the swears featured in Uncut Gems. According to their meticulous research, the Safdie Brothers’ latest racks up 408 uses of the word “fuck.” Clocking in at 135 minutes, the film averages out to 3.02 uses of the word per minute. To put that into context, The Wolf of Wall Street, Martin Scorsese’s similar rip-roaring and toxic culture adventure, contains the f-bomb 569 times, averaging 3.16 uses of the word per minute.
Additionally, while the only two productions to surpass The Wolf of Wall Street in terms of their profanity were a documentary on the actual word itself and the Trailer Park Boys spoof comedy Swearnet: The Movie, Uncut Gems ranks 7th on the list of most f-bombed films. Funny enough, another Martin Scorsese film, 1995’s Casino, tops the Safdie Brothers movie by 14 counts, averaging 2.40 uses per minute; and following right behind Uncut Gems is the 2015 hip-hop biopic Straight Outta Compton, which, at a 167-minute runtime, averages 2.35 uses per minute with 392 f-bombs.
Of course, Adam Sandler’s entire filmography is not without their fair share of expletives. Sandler’s brand of comedy has always been doused with swear words, often by the dozens, as well as several strange, and not always well received gags. The critical praise for Uncut Gems aside, saying that Uncut Gems is Adam Sandler’s most explicit and whacky film to date would certainly be an understatement.
