It is somewhat common knowledge among movie fans that for a film to attain a box office-friendly PG-13 rating, it’s only allowed one use of the word ‘fuck.’ Generally (but not always), more than two F-bombs is a ticket straight to a restricted R rating. But once you have that R rating, you might as well embrace it. That’s what the Safdie Brothers’ new film Uncut Gems did, because it apparently reached top 10 in all-time movie F-bombs.
Just how much did Uncut Gems, particularly star Adam Sandler, love dropping the F-bomb in the drama from Josh and Benny Safdie? Well, with 408 utterances of that most versatile of expletives, Uncut Gems lands at number seven on the top 10 list of films that most frequently use the word 'fuck' of all time. During Uncut Gems' 135-minute runtime, those 408 uses correlate to an average of 3.02 uses per minute.
This is according to Wikipedia, citing screenit, so you can take it with a small pinch of salt if you want. That said, having seen Uncut Gems, I can confirm that the F-bomb gets dropped a lot. But as much as you hear the F-word in Uncut Gems, the movie is only in the bottom half on the all-time top 10 list. Uncut Gems comes in ahead of Straight Outta Compton, Alpha Dog and End of Watch, but it is well behind some other movies.
Ahead of Uncut Gems for F-bomb supremacy are six other films, including two from auteur Martin Scorsese. Those films are, Casino at number six, Nil by Mouth at number five, Summer of Sam at number four, and The Wolf of Wall Street at number three. At number two, is the documentary on the F-word, Fuck, with the highest number of uses per minute with 9.21, 857 overall.
And at number one, the record holder for the most uses of the word ‘fuck’ in a film is 2014’s Swearnet: The Movie, with 935. That is quite a lot of cursing, and now Uncut Gems joins that illustrious list alongside true classics of cinema and modern favorites. Previously, Adam Sandler’s highest entry on this list, as far as I can tellm was 103rd place with 2009’s Funny People.
It’s fitting that Uncut Gems made this list because the Safdie Brothers film about a New York City jeweler/hustler who is for a big score is one of the most anxiety-inducing film experiences you could ever engage in. And for the characters and the audience, a fuck or two is certainly warranted.
A place in the top-10 films for F-bombs isn’t the only prestigious title Uncut Gems can claim. The film scored a box office record of $18.8 million over five days, the best ever for indie distributor A24. Uncut Gems is also a critical darling, landing in many year-end top 10 lists.
Sadly, that critical acclaim and liberal use of the F-word have not guaranteed an enthusiastic response from audiences as the film’s CinemaScore is a meager C+, presumably because some opening night audiences were expecting something more akin to Murder Mystery.
If you don’t mind a bit of foul language, Uncut Gems is now playing. To see what movies are headed to theaters this year, check out our 2020 Release Schedule.
