Film Review: THE GENTLEMEN (2019): A Materialistic Crime Dramedy that is Verbose but Fun

The Gentlemen Review

The Gentlemen (2019), a movie directed by Guy Ritchie, starring Matthew McConaughey, Hugh Grant, Charlie Hunnam, Michelle Dockery, Colin Farrell, Jeremy Strong, Henry Golding, Tom Wu, and Eddie Marsan.

The Gentlemen follows Michael “Mickey” Pearson, a brilliant, American South ex-pat, “bush” entrepreneur in England, in his attempt to sell his marijuana empire as he prepares to retire from the game. No time is wasted before several inexplicable incidents complicate matters. While sometimes the dialogue is unintelligible, and the characters underdeveloped, there is a comfortable Guy Ritchie poetry to the production that makes The Gentlemen an entertaining piece of cinema. In Ritchie‘s canon of quirky crime dramas, this is Snatch meets The Man From U.N.C.L.E. as an ode to Scorsese.

Mickey is played by the king of Southern charm, Matthew McConaughey (yes, I said it). However, it is Hugh Grant’s garrulous weasel character, Fletcher, that drives the narrative of the film. Ritchie wrote and directed the screenplay, which is witty but wordy. You actually have to applaud the infinite patience that Raymond (Charlie Hunnam) exhibits during Fletcher’s endless exposition. You also must applaud Grant‘s skill. He chews through dialogue like a saw through cedar. He is mesmerizing. Actually, each frame of the film is mesmerizing, which makes the verbosity tolerable.

Ritchie plays with fashion to tell a visual tale. Each major character has a color story subtly hinting at his or her position in life and in the story. Mickey, the king, is layered in deep-pigmented plaids resembling the visual embodiment of fine, aged wine and tailored tradition. Raymond wears dark blues and browns, which are generally wall colors. Ray is meant to be the man behind the man, so his wardrobe helps him blend into the background. You are properly surprised by his violent outbursts. Rosalind Pearson, Mickey’s Cockney queen, played by the fine-boned Michelle Dockery, drips in jewels and precious metals. She is literally the jewel in Mickey’s crown. Finally, there are the garish, plaid jumpsuits worn by the Coach (Colin Farrell) and the Toddlers. The suits as well as the names belie their dangerous natures. The wardrobe in this feature is a character in itself.

Now, to likes and dislikes. I liked how Ritchie played with shadow and space to make nearly every frame of the film resemble a velvet portrait. Spotlights drive your eye to the center of the room, but you can still see Raymond in the background over Mickey’s shoulder checking the time on his watch during a particularly vomit-inducing scene. I liked how the violence was acute and essential to the story, including the fact that its execution was lifted directly from the Martin Scorsese handbook, including bullets to the head and dramatic reveals of freezer carcasses. Also, starting at the middle in the beginning is classic Scorsese, and I’m not too mad at it. Ritchie has employed these tactics that play with pacing and sequence before, so they are expected and welcome.

What I disliked was the heavy-handed materialism that became a distraction. In fact, the beginning of the film skewed toward being more like an expensive “Gritchie” brewery commercial with a stellar cast, and it just happened to extend to a two-hour feature. There is also no excuse for the rambling dialogue. Thirty minutes could have been shaved off of this film simply by cutting dialogue. In that respect, this film could have benefited from a heavier editing hand.

Some characters are never fully developed to justify any intense feelings about them like Lord George (Tom Wu), Dry Eye (Henry Golding) and Matthew (Jeremy Strong). For example, Matthew is the big bad Jewish billionaire who dresses like a sorbet sundae and that is about all you get. Dry Eye is a devilish punk sporting red bottom loafers, and he is somehow uninteresting. Lord George just sits there. You have Tom Wu on your screen, and he just sits there? Disappointing. It seems more attention was paid to the look of them rather than who they are.

Despite the underdeveloped characters, The Gentlemen is entertaining, visually engaging, funny and even tosses a few seedy witticisms at the English gentry. For all that, it is worth a watch. Just beware, you are in for a long-winded tall tale Guy Ritchie style.

7.5/10

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