 |
| Michelle Dockery & Matthew McConaughey (r) star in The Gentlemen |
The Alpha (Male) Dance
Rotten Tomatoes Plot: The Gentlemen follows American expat Mickey Pearson (Matthew McConaughey) who built a highly profitable marijuana empire in London. When word gets out that he's looking to cash out of the business forever, it triggers plots, schemes, bribery and blackmail in an attempt to steal his domain out from under him. Directed by Guy Ritchie.
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnam, Henry Golding, Michelle Dockery, Jeremy Strong, Eddie Marsan, Colin Farrell and Hugh Grant
What's Good: McConaughey, Farrell and Grant deliver the goods, alongside a supercharged performance by Michelle Dockery. It's fast paced, with lots of funny moments and superb acting across the board. Well done, gents.
What's Not: The narrative goes on forever, but it allows Grant to shine brightly, so we'll give Ritchie a pass. Unfortunately, his glaring lack of female performers (with the obvious exception of Dockery) is inexcusably/unnecessarily sexist. Hey Guy, it's 2020: Time to grow up.
Budget: N/A
Runtime: 113 minutes (No complaints.)
Target Audience: Fans of British gangster films (i.e. Layer Cake)
Bottom Line: This is Ritchie's best film since Sherlock Holmes, and possibly Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. He wisely avoids overdoing it, despite coming dangerously close on a few occasions. Instead, he lets his impressive ensemble of players do the heavy lifting, and it pays off in a big way. A+ for a January release, B+ for the rest of the year.
Grade: B+
