10 Incredible Performances The Academy Ignored This Year
2. Adam Sandler (Uncut Gems)
If you want to talk about comebacks in 2019/20, Adam Sandler's return to dramatic acting form must sit at the top of most people's lists. Right next to Tyson Fury becoming the Heavyweight World Champion again, right?
For an entire generation, Sandler had become known as the go-to guy for tacky, heavy handed 'comedies' which still did unfathomable numbers on Netflix and raked in the big bucks at the box office. Seriously, Pixels earned $244 million. PIXELS!
Yet, despite that self-enforced pigeon-holing, Sandler has always reserved the ability to churn out a masterful turn in a drama if given the right material - see his work in The Meyerowitz Stories and Funny People.
The Safdie Brothers' follow up to the critically acclaimed Good Time, Uncut Gems, offered Sandler such a platform to produce magic yet again and oh, boy did he deliver.
Playing the slimey yet affable jeweller ,Howard Ratner, immersed in a dog-eat-dog New York, the role fits Sandler like one of the watches he's been secretly flogging behind his protégé's back.
Despite nailing this role of a lifetime, the Academy opted to skip over Sandler's name when choosing their illustrious nominees and in doing so laid the foundations for one of the greatest speeches in awards ceremony history at the Independent Spirit Awards.
Serves them right.