Anthony Edwards plays a pretty good villain in Adam Sandler's 'Hustle'
Before anyone knew about Anthony Edwards, the Georgia basketball player, they knew about Anthony Edwards, the actor. ‘Top Gun,’ ‘E.R.,’ ‘Revenge of the Nerds,’ in case you aren’t familiar.
Now, Anthony Edwards, the basketball player *is* Anthony Edwards, the actor.
He’s in Adam Sandler / Happy Madison’s Netflix movie, ‘Hustle.’
Even Georgia basketball fans will love to hate Edwards in his role as up-and-coming NBA Draft pick, Kermit Wilts.
**Spoilers ahead.**
If you haven’t seen the movie yet and don’t want me to ruin the plot, feel free to watch this Anthony Edwards highlight reel before you turn back:
Sorry, wrong Anthony Edwards.
See. Still happens.
Anthony Edwards’s Kermit Wilts is this generation’s Jesus Shuttlesworth.
Like Ray Allen in ‘He Got Game,’ Edwards is a real basketball player who adds actual basketball gravitas to a fictional story.
Sports shows and sports movies are incredibly difficult to pull off. Most of your audience probably likes sports. Those viewers will criticize every single plot hole and scoff at every continuity mistake.
Likewise, poor acting performances from athletes can ruin an otherwise good movie.
Anthony Edwards shares the screen with Adam Sandler (not just a funny guy. He’s strong) and adds a realistic touch without sticking out like a sore thespian thumb.
He stays in the ear of the protagonist Bo Cruz (portrayed by another actual NBA player, Juancho Hernangomez) and solidifies Kermit Wilts as an all-time sports movie villain with his trash talk.
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There is one thing Georgia basketball fans may not like about Anthony Edwards’s role…
But one thing will bother eagle-eyed Georgia basketball fans. In the movie, Kermit Wilts played basketball at Kentucky. No respect for Anthony Edwards’s actual college program.
See, sports movies are hard to get completely right.
Other than that, Dawg fans will enjoy one more Georgia cameo. NBA on TNT host and Georgia alum Ernie Johnson, along with Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley, appear as themselves.
Kenny Smith, however, doesn’t appear as himself. The Jet plays a sports agent and Sandler’s former college teammate.
Check out the movie on Netflix. It’s charming and thrilling without falling into too many sports move clichés.
4.7 Dawg bones out of 5.
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