The Gentlemen (2020)

Review

113min

Genre:     Action, Crime, Comedy

Director:  Guy Ritchie

Cast:       Matthew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnam, Hugh Grant…more

Writers:   Guy Ritchie, Ivan Atkinson and Marn Davies

-Synopsis-

When an American drug kingpin in London looks to cash out of the business, a whole cast of the city’s gangsters converge on an opportunity, triggering a turf war as a sleazy manipulator looks to pull the strings for himself—in this latest all-star British crime comedy from the director of ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’ and ‘Snatch’.

After spending the last decade tackling everything from Sherlock Holmes and cold war spy romps to Arthurian legend and Disney family fantasy blockbusters, in signature slick flashy style but with varying degrees of success, Guy Ritchie returns to his bread and butter—the bolshie British gangster flick—serving up new course of brash, violent, and foul-mouthed misadventures for a host of larger-than-life characters, and just about managing to recreate the early glory which put him on the filmmaking map . . . or some of it at least.

Charlie Hunnam stars dapper British gangster ‘Raymond’, right-hand-man to London drug kingpin ‘Mickey Pearson’ (Matthew McConaughey), a sharp blue-collar American done good in British polite society thanks to his wits and the sweet Mary Jane, and with no small help from his no-nonsense wife ‘Rosalind’ (Michelle Dockery). But when Mickey looks to get out of  the game with his pockets full, the sharks come out to feed, including ambitious flamboyant American billionaire ‘Mathew’ (Jeremy Strong) and unhinged triad boss ‘Dry Eye’ (Henry Golding), while sleazy manipulative tabloid journalist ‘Fletcher’ (Hugh Grant) looks to get his piece of the pie—as the pieces are set for a dangerous game which can leave only one king of this jungle.

By now we should probably all know what to expect from a Guy Ritchie British gangster flick; a collection of grandiose shifty characters all jockeying for position and keeping their heads above water in the criminal underworld, feeding into a stylised and dynamic twisting narrative which keeps you guessing, delivering violence, black comedy and plenty of colourful language along the way—and the Hertfordshire filmmaker certainly obliges here. What we didn’t expect though is how subtly personal the film is, straddling the British class system while packed with self-referential filmmaking nods at the core of the narrative, both a reflection of the director himself.

And as the Western world has moved forward (or arguably sideways) in terms of social norms, cultural sensitivity and political correctness, Ritchie refuses to completely play ball, deliberately piling coarse earthy language on top of cultural stereotypes to occasionally hilarious but confronting effect, not to mention a fair bit of innuendo—no doubt to the chagrin of many a critic and commentator. And yet he addresses that fact head-on, contextualised by the unfiltered street world in which the story takes place, and ultimately the cast of characters here is more representative of modern multi-cultural Britain than anything we’ve seen from him before.

Perhaps taking advantage of his own legendary penchant for the sweet Mary Jane, Matthew McConaughey leads an ensemble cast as an American drug-dealer in London, who charms the British ruling classes while keeping an iron grasp on the criminal underworld, in a performance which actually tones down his eccentricities and proves one of the most intense and intimidating of his career. He’s flanked by Charlie Hunnam as his measured gangster number two, essentially playing the straight man of the piece and threading the stories and character vignettes together, allowing the likes of Hugh Grant, Henry Golding, Michelle Dockery, Colin Farrell and Jeremy Strong to go big and chew up the scenery around him.

The film also looks the part, glossily shot by Ritchie’s regular collaborator Alan Stewart (Sherlock Holmes, Aladdin) and dressed to the nines in Burberry and Savile Row-inspired style, while award-winning audio engineer/editor Christopher Benstead (Thor, Gravity) turns composer to provide a driving debut score, combined with a soundtrack of classic rock and UK gangsta grime . . . with the moves to match. So ‘The Gentlemen’ is undoubtedly slick, but perhaps a little too slick, with a sterile sheen which betrays the grittiness of the story.

In fact even despite the elevated levels of graphic violence—which nevertheless doesn’t quite merit the film’s 18 UK rating—that very grittiness which helped to define Ritchie’s early Brit gangster work feels lacking here. And as he ups the criminal scale to bridge the classes and create billion pound gangster ambitions, the earthiness and character of the work which defined him falls by the wayside, with his cinematic signature still proving frenetic and dynamic, but it no longer feeling as fresh and urgent.

Try as the actors might with what they’re given, and they have a bloody good go of it, there are few truly memorable characters in ‘The Gentlemen’, and no unforgettable ones, as opposed to the parade of utterly quotable, scene-stealing turns in ‘Snatch’ and ‘Lock, Stock’. And although the story might keep your gripped and entertained, and to a lesser extent guessing throughout, it may be reasonably daring and creative but it’s not exactly inspired, with a plot which does start to feel a tad predictable, confirming your suspicions by the end.

Yet there’s still plenty of fun to be had here, and if you can avoid being offended by his updated harking back to 90s ‘Cool Britannia’, Ritchie’s latest will at times have you guiltily busting a gut, at others gleefully pre-empting what’s to come, and occasionally shaking your head—but most importantly will keep you well entertained for just under two hours.

The Bottom Line…

Guy Ritchie’s return to the Brit gangster flick may not have the sharp freshness of his early forays, or leave a particularly lasting mark, but this brash and bolshie, class-straddling modern gangster romp is dressed to the nines and will keep you chuckling and entertained, thanks to a crew of misfit characters delivering an unapologetic blend of outrageous dialogue, violence and plenty of comedy.

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