Why did Guy Ritchie ever stop making movies like this? These anti-hero satiric crime collages are not only what he does best, they are arguably –with the possible exception of Sherlock Holmes– the only thing he does well. Don’t even start in with me about Aladdin. I don’t know that the universe has been waiting for Guy Ritchie to get back to what he does best, but -FWIW- he did, and the result is most entertaining if a tad forgettable.
Straight up as his Cadillac commercial persona, Matthew McConaughey appears to die in the opening scene of The Gentlemen, which is an interesting gambit as he has top billing. Well gosh, I hope this film is going to go back in time a bit. And there it goes: Fletcher (Hugh Grant), a sleazy smut farmer, has slunk into the home of Ray (Charlie Hunnam), the right-hand man of the UK marijuana king, Mickey Pearson (McConaughey). Fletcher serves as our untrustworthy narrator, detailing the highlight reel of the year in drugs for Ray all in an attempt to extort £20 million from Mickey. Fletcher has been commissioned by tabloid editor Eddie Marsan to unearth Mickey’s sins for the bargain basement price of £150k, but has decided what he knows is worth more.
Keeping up so far?
Meanwhile, Mickey wants out of the biz, and this is where the trouble begins. Having constructed a grand weed empire secretly farmed beneath the estates of obsolete Lords (gotta love that part), Mickey has decided to embrace middle age and his wife (Michelle Dockery, because a female had to show up eventually, right?). He plans to sell the works to Matthew (Jeremy Strong) for £400M, which seems like a good idea to, you know, non-criminals like me. However, this is all an invitation for trouble; Mickey selling allows for two-pronged ugliness: 1) it sends a clear message he’s not as powerful as he used to be and 2) it allows outsiders to learn his business. Mickey tempers the assaults to his throne in the form of Lord George (Tom Wu) and Dry Eye (Henry Golding) with shows of strength and metaphoric speech: “There’s only one rule in the jungle: when the lion’s hungry, he eats!” I’m not sure that’s true from even a zoological point of view, but it effectively gets the point across.
Metaphors, metaphors, metaphors. The Gentlemen is nothing if not a constant collection of metaphors and third-person pronouncements. This is actually my biggest detraction from an otherwise amusing romp; not everything has to be a metaphor, criminally inclined fellows.
This is an entertaining film. It is Pulp Fiction-esque in its blend of the criminal, the violent, and the satirical. In fact, one scene in particular in which Ray has to extract the daughter of a Lord from a heroin den could have come straight out of Quentin Tarantino’s head. The overwhelming criminal elements are tempered by characters like Coach (Colin Farrell), a mentor for street hoods who -without telling a single joke or breaking a somber expression- gets some of the biggest laughs in the film. Coach takes it upon himself to rectify the violations incurred by his progeny, which leads to scene like one in which a man is extorted for bestiality nondisclosure. Yes, you read that right.
Obviously, The Gentlemen isn’t for everybody. It is violent; it is a tad misogynistic; it is a tad racist (like when it refers to Henry Golding as a Chinese James Bond with a “ricense to kill”) … one can claim that’s just the perspective of a character in the film and not the film itself, but I say it’s ambiguous. Ignoring that stuff (which is problematic, I grant you), I think Guy Ritchie is back to where he ought to be, and I welcome more films like this from him. I can’t say much for McConaughey’s extended Cadillac commercial, but I haven’t seen a performance this good from Hugh Grant in over a decade and I’ve never seen better from Charlie Hunnam. Given the great supporting work from Henry Golding and Colin Farrell and I think Ritchie got superior work out of four romance actors in decidedly non-romantic roles. Go figure.
♪In the village the English village
The lion feeds tonight
Overspillage while others pillage
The lion feeds tonight
Heeeeeeeeeeeeeey, hey hey
Alright, alright
Heeeeeeeeeeeeeey, hey hey
Alright, alright♫
Rated R, 113 Minutes
Director: Guy Ritchie
Writer: Guy Ritchie
Genre: The kind of fun Guy Ritchie used to bring us
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Fans of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Fans of Swept Away
♪ Parody Inspired by “Mbube (The Lion Sleeps Tonight)”
