The Gentlemen

Name: The Gentlemen
Genre: Action, Comedy, Crime
Released: January 24, 2020
Duration: 113 min
Rating: 51
Cast: Charlie Hunnam, Chidi Ajufo, Christopher Evangelou, Colin Farrell, Eliot Sumner

2020

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 44 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 504 Ratings

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7.8

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7.8	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 504 Ratings

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The Gentlemen

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Movie Details & Credits

STX Entertainment | Release Date: January 24, 2020 | R

Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Chidi Ajufo, Christopher Evangelou, Colin Farrell, Eliot Sumner, Henry Golding, Hugh Grant, Jason Wong, Jeremy Strong, Lyne Renee, Matthew McConaughey, Michelle Dockery, Tom Wu

Summary: 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.

Director: Guy Ritchie

Genre(s): Action, Comedy, Crime

Rating: R

Runtime: 113 min

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Critic Reviews

Richard Roeper

Jan 23, 2020

The Gentlemen never ceases to surprise and amuse. Read full review

Molly Freeman

Jan 22, 2020

For those that persevere, there is an entertaining gangster film at the heart of The Gentlemen. There's a frenetic energy to Ritchie's movie that comes in part from his directing style, and part from the cast's clear enjoyment of bringing the film to life. Read full review

Tom Russo

Jan 24, 2020

It’s a diverting if slightly undercooked throwback that could offer more genuine intrigue, but that’s still worth it to see the cast gamely chuck out the window manners and vanity. Read full review

Jim Slotek

Jan 22, 2020

Ritchie is looking back to the Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and RocknRolla roots as if nothing has changed since. The Gentlemen is simply those movies with extra everything except inspiration. And sometimes more is less. Read full review

Justin Chang

Jan 23, 2020

As an evening’s entertainment, it’s almost passable — genially diverting one minute, sour and self-satisfied the next. As a men’s fashion showcase, it’s exemplary — a parade of neatly tailored charcoal waistcoats, colorful flannel tracksuits and a lovely ribbed cardigan that Charlie Hunnam wears like a second skin. Read full review

Stephanie Zacharek

Jan 23, 2020

It should be fun – but it isn’t. Ritchie, who wrote the screenplay from a story he conceived with Ivan Atkinson and Marn Davies, veers into territory that’s possibly anti-Semitic and maybe a little racist. It’s all a lark, so we’re not supposed to care, but some of the gags still leave a bitter aftertaste. Read full review

Rex Reed

Jan 25, 2020

It was written with empty-headed desperation and directed with minimal imagination by Guy Ritchie, one of the most incompetent filmmakers of the century. Read full review

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User Reviews

Moviesquirrel9

Jan 26, 2020

Love this movie! Hugh Grant, Colin Ferrel, Charlie Hunnam are all hysterical. (Listen closely to cockney patter. ). Matthew McCoughney is fantastic as is Michele Dockery!

16 of 20 users found this helpful164

Alex12022000000

Apr 18, 2020

Guy Ritchie is back! This is a wonderful film that does not let you go until the end. The plot, scenes, staging, everything is fine. Thanks to him for this wonderful movie.

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

oneofmany

Feb 6, 2020

This movie is incredibly fun to watch. If you liked Guy Ritchie's style you will love this.

2 of 4 users found this helpful22

bean141

Jul 1, 2022

Its not perfect but was mostly a really fun film. Some story points, and scenes felt a little shallow, but the really good acting, entertaining characters and just overall enjoyable style, made it a well above average and enjoyable film

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Bertaut1

Jan 24, 2020

Nothing too unexpected here, but it's funny and hugely entertaining

The Gentlemen is a return to the London gangster milieu where writer/director Guy Ritchie first made his name with films such as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and snatch. (2000). And yes, the film seems stuckNothing too unexpected here, but it's funny and hugely entertaining

The Gentlemen is a return to the London gangster milieu where writer/director Guy Ritchie first made his name with films such as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and snatch. (2000). And yes, the film seems stuck in the last decade in more ways than one, it's highly questionable that the only gay character is a slimy man-whore into S&M, its only female character barely even manages to rise to the level of tokenism, and Ritchie does absolutely nothing new here, but The Gentlemen is still hugely entertaining. Most of the jokes land, the dialogue is as sharp and expletive-laden as ever, the cast are having a ball, and the self-reflexivity works well for the most part. The plot is as derivative as it gets, but Ritchie has injected real verve into it. The Gentlemen won't change your life, but it will make you laugh.

The film begins as sleazy private eye Fletcher (Hugh Grant) arrives unannounced at the home of Ray (Charlie Hunnam), right-hand man to Mickey Pearson (Matthew McConaughey), an Oxford-educated American ex-pat who controls a huge marijuana empire in London. Several months prior, Fletcher was hired by tabloid editor Big Dave (Eddie Marsen) to dig up dirt on Pearson, and Fletcher has written a screenplay based on his investigation, telling Ray that unless Pearson pays him £20 million, he will hand over everything he has to Dave. Meanwhile, Pearson has decided to sell his whole operation, but when word gets out, all hell breaks loose, as the various interested parties vie for advantage. Most of the subsequent film takes the form of Fletcher narrating his exploits to Ray, explaining how he learned so much about Pearson and what he does.

Aesthetically, The Gentlemen is very much in the mould of Ritchie's previous gangster movies. Because Fletcher frames his narration as a screenplay, it allows Ritchie to employ a multitude of self-reflexive devices – a smash cut coinciding with Fletcher asking Ray to visualise a smash cut; on-screen captions telling us who's who; animated maps; freeze-frames; rewinds; a shot of film running through a projector etc. At one point, Fletcher is discussing the merits of anamorphic over 1.78:1, and the film's aspect ratio changes accordingly. At another, he's arguing for the merits of 35mm celluloid over digital, and the film duly switches formats. Such playfulness means that it never for a second takes itself too seriously, and it remains immensely fun, with the more you know about the mechanics of assembling a film, the more humorously self-reflexive the film becomes – Fletcher even acknowledges his own role as an unreliable narrator.

In terms of themes, the most obvious is the idea that the economic divide between gangsters and aristocrats masks their practical similarities. The smooth running of Pearson's business depends on both classes – the aristocrats who he needs to grow his product and the gangsters who distribute that product. The clash between the pompous insularity of the English upper class and the perceived uncouthness of the lower class has been done to death in both literature (Wuthering Heights (1847) springs to mind) and film (Performance, for example), and although Ritchie doesn't say anything even remotely new about it, it still forms an interesting textural background – gentrification is ever-present; there are ironic references to the posh areas of Croydon; Ray, a working-class Newcastle native, is a cleanliness freak who eats wagyu steak and lives in a mansion, and when he's dispatched on a mission to an uncivilised working-class area, he explains he "just hates them junkies," seeing them as very much his social inferiors.

One of the most central scenes sees Ray and his mn clash with a gang of machete-wielding thugs on a council estate, and there's a real sense of old vs. new – traditional gangsters fighting it out with internet-savvy hoodlums who don't give a damn about tradition or respect. There are a lot of laughs to be had with these issues, such as Ray and Coach (a scene-stealing Colin Farrell) having problems pronouncing the name Phuc. And again, none of this is presented as even remotely serious.

The biggest problems with the film are probably its lack of depth, and the familiarity of the presentation, characters, and milieu – there's nothing here you haven't seen in previous Ritchie films. And as you would expect, there isn't much in the way of emotional maturity or narrative complexity. It's all very surface-level, and it makes no apologies for such.

Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed The Gentlemen. It's a funny as hell caper and the actors are clearly having terrific fun. It might be formulaic and overly familiar, but it's also immensely enjoyable.… Expand

5 of 6 users found this helpful51

eutohius

Feb 12, 2020

It is definitely not a masterpiece. Either is it not a movie that I will review in a year or two. Still, an enjoyable work, with a great cast, and solid writing as well. If you liked Ritchie's earlier movies (which unfortunately didn't age well), you'll probably like The Gentlemen.

5 of 6 users found this helpful51

morovian

Mar 26, 2022

An extremely anemic attempt to bring back the success of Lock, Stock & Snatch. Anemic is actually an understatement. If you can make it through the first half hour without using your popcorn bag as a receptacle for the contents of your stomach, then you, like most of the viewing public atAn extremely anemic attempt to bring back the success of Lock, Stock & Snatch. Anemic is actually an understatement. If you can make it through the first half hour without using your popcorn bag as a receptacle for the contents of your stomach, then you, like most of the viewing public at this point in the history of humanity, have lost all ability to discriminate...notice the difference between inspired creativity and a desperate formula. Matthew McConaughey is who he always is in every film, unwatchable. The script is supposed to be engrossing but it just doesn't deliver. It's like a train off the rails the entire time, plowing forward anyway, grating noise, going nowhere. The plot and dialogue are so utterly contrived and lame that I actually felt sorry for the actors, some of whom are quite talented, struggle to bring vitality to this total P.O.S. I can't even finish my review because it is making me ill to recall everything worth criticizing, suffice to say that this is more a public service announcement to not waste your time. It's really one of the worst films of this genre I have ever seen.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

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