The Gentlemen

Official Australian release date: 1/1/20. Viewed: 3/1/20.

Director: Guy Ritchie

Actors: Matthew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnam, Hugh Grant, Jeremy Strong

Genre: Crime / Action

Rating: MA

  

‘The Gentlemen’ is Guy Ritchie’s return to form. While no ‘Snatch’ or ‘Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels’, it’s a mostly fun British gangster romp, with a token American, this time Mickey (McConaughey) as the pot-dealing kingpin. It’s ironic in that they are mostly gentlemen in how they dress and how they speak, except or the number of c-bombs dropped! Great cast, but lots of players, so no one gets much of a chance to shine.

Mickey’s tale of selling his drug empire to Mathew (Strong) is told via a long discussion between Fletcher (Grant), a journalist, and Raymond (Hunnam), Mickey’s right-hand-man. Grant is pretty funny trying to do a possibly Welsh accent. The device of using the discussion to show the narrative, means the film can go back and correct the story when it needs to. There’s a few twists and turns and while it’s fun watching Grant and Hunnam, the film really picks up in the final act when we’re in “real time”. Good to see Farrell have fun, as well as Golding and Dockery.

The main problem with the narrative device is that Mickey doesn’t seem real and McConaughey’s character isn’t really fleshed out. Solid ending, but not really enough action or drama to engage throughout. Some funny moments, but not really laugh-out-loud for the most part.

Overall: Good British gangster story.

Gav's Rating: 3 stars.