The Gentlemen

This film returned Guy Ritchie back to his roots of the low budget, gangster/crime caper after doing his tours of tentpole blockbusters like “Aladdin”, “King Arthur” and “Sherlock Holmes”. However, “The Gentlemen” is still no “Snatch” or “Lock, Stocking and Two Smoking Barrels”. 

It maintained Ritchie's signature unreliable narrative with a twisty-turny plotline, and coupled it with Ritchie’s patented quick edits, smash cuts, slow-mos and of course British wit. But, the general story was essentially too simplistic and unnecessarily complicated. It seemed at times to have been deliberately stretched out just to fill the run time. Then again, at 113 minutes, the film was not that long. 

Thankfully Ritchie assembled an ace cast that helped to sell the film and maintained the audience’s attention. 

Hugh Grant was the main standout and he is definitely having a late career renaissance embodying more dastardly characters than the lovable fops of his youth. Grant’s main scene partner was Charlie Hunnam who was great as the straight man to Grant’s whimsiness and also to Matthew McConaughey’s even straighter crime lord. 

McConaughey was well cast here but it begs to wonder how much of the story was changed, if any, to have this American take centre stage. His casting probably led to the casting of Jeremy Strong as the other American., although Strong delivered on Ritchie’s dry, Brit humour better than McConaughey. The campiness helped. 

The other standout was a barely-recognisable Colin Farrell who only had a few scenes but was  great/hilarious in them. 

Michelle Dockery held her own but she really was the Julia Roberts in “Ocean’s Eleven” - pretty, independent, but superfluous. 

And new “heartthrob” Henry Golding needs to try harder. 

Ritchie needs to make a full fledged all-British gangster caper again, but at least with “The Gentlemen” fans know he has not fully sold out...yet.