Review: ‘The Smashing Machine’ — A Remarkable, Unconventional Sports Drama

For their two most known mainstream releases, the now separated Safdie brothers made a specific point out of utilising overlooked and over-hated leading actors in roles which fought against how they had been typecast. 2017’s phenomenal thriller Good Time (a film I adored so much upon release that I somehow racked up almost 40 viewings of it within the space of a year — it has been long enough since then that I could watch it fresh again today!) was one of a number of films to force film culture to reconsider the star image of Robert Pattinson, alongside the likes of The Rover and, later, High Life, The Batman, The Lighthouse and Mickey 17 (just to name a select a few highlights). Twilight, now, certainly hasn’t been forgotten but is no longer seen as such a potent blemish upon the stardom of either Pattinson or his then co-star Kristen Stewart (who has made a similarly successful career shift towards challenging roles in higher-brow films).

Adam Sandler was considered an Oscar front runner when the Safdie brothers released Uncut Gems in 2019, an obvious departure from his typically low effort (but, in my opinion, generally…