The Gentlemen

When I first saw the trailer for The Gentlemen it didn’t catch my attention. That was until I found out it was a Guy Ritchie movie. I’m not going to say that all of them are as good as Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels or Snatch, but I don’t think I’ve watched one that I hated. I will admit I was more than a little disappointed in King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, which also had Charlie Hunnam in it. Since this had Matthew McConaughey in it I had to check it out.

Matthew McConaughey plays Mickey, an American living in London who is a marijuana kingpin that considers himself the king of the jungle, and evidently is. He has reached a point where he has made his money and now wants to live the life of a somewhat respectable gentleman with his wife Rosalind, played by Michelle Dockery. He is ready to sell his entire enterprise for $400 million pounds to Matthew, another American, played by Jeremy Strong. This is complicated by an aspiring Chinese gangster named Dry Eye, played by Henry Golding and the man he works for, Lord George, played by Tom Wu. They figure if they cause Mickey enough trouble in his business they might be able to buy it for a lot less. On a side note, there is a rumor that Henry Golding is a possible replacement for Daniel Craig as James Bond. In the movie Dry Eye is referred to as a Chinese James Bond.

The way the story is unfolded to the audience is by watching a tabloid reporter named Fletcher, played by Hugh Grant, lay out his blackmail scheme to Mickey’s consiglieri Ray, played by Charlie Hunnam. Fletcher has been tracking Mickey and his pot business for an article he is selling to newspaper owner that Mickey ticked off. Along the way he has discovered all kinds of illegal activity including some murders that will ruin Mickey. As Fletcher tells Ray the story the audience sees it in flashbacks. A really interesting character in the movie is Coach, played by Colin Farrell. He is a boxing coach, and his batch of students are up for anything including illegal activities.

The movie is 113 minutes, Rated R for violence, and language, language, language, sexual references and drug content. I can’t stress the language thing enough. They don’t miss a word, especially that word that everybody hates, the C-word. The count is 25 times but it seemed like twice that because of how that word is viewed in America. While we were watching it, Carla kept saying “What is the deal with constantly saying that?” Evidently it is different in England, over there it’s no big deal. 

As far as Matthew McConaughey, he was awesome! Mickey was as cool as I’ve ever seen him. I’m talking driving down the road in a Lincoln, drinking a Wild Turkey 101, smelling like Dolce & Gabbana, and naked with a set of bongos in the passenger seat cool. And Ray, played by Charlie Hunnam was not far behind.

This is an old school Guy Ritchie movie 100% and if you like that then you know what to expect and you won’t be disappointed. If you are looking for anything else, this might not be for you.

My Score: 4 Budweisers 

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