KEITH on Reels

Directed by Guy Ritchie best known for such comedy crime films as 1998’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and 2000’s Snatch, The Gentlemen is, for the most part, an entertaining and fast-paced gangster comedy set in London that effectively returns back to what made Guy Ritchie such a unique and brash filmmaker. The story, which can be sometimes hard to follow because of the fast-talking dialogue and alternate timelines, revolves around the criminal exploits of an American marijuana kingpin named Mickey Pearson, played terrifically by Matthew McConaughey, who is trying to sell his massive illicit cannabis empire in Great Britain. In a rather creative twist, a majority of Pearson’s story is told by Fletcher, played by the perfectly cast Hugh Grant, who is a shady private investigator hired by a British tabloid edited by the vindictive Big Dave, played by Eddie Marsan. Marked by amusing banter and bravado, the greedy Fletcher recounts the events over the course of an evening at the London residence of Pearson’s right-hand man Raymond, played by Charlie Hunnam best known for his role on the TV series Sons of Anarchy. Because they are told by an unreliable third party witness, the flashbacks shown throughout the movie are suspect at best and tell a particular story in which major details may have been excluded, which leaves the audience guessing about what is really happening. Pearson wants to get out of the business because he believes it is the right time before marijuana is legalized and to spend more time with his posh car-loving wife Rosalind, played by Michelle Dockery. In typical Guy Ritchie-fashion, the film is filled with charismatic yet foul-mouthed unsavory characters involved in the criminal underworld and who are depicted as comically over-the-top but always ready with witty puns that are rather profane. Pearson encounters difficulties as he navigates the sale of his almost half a billion dollar business to the American billionaire Matthew Berger, played by Jeremy Strong best known for his role on HBO’s TV series Succession. One such group that complicates things is Chinese gangsters led by a mysterious man named Lord George and his powerful underling nicknamed Dry Eye, played by Henry Golding best known for his role in the 2018 romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians, who are also interested buyers that brazenly commit criminal deeds in order to reduce the sale price. The plaid-suited Colin Farrell shows up in the story as a somewhat reformed criminal simply known as Coach after a group of teenagers he is mentoring at a boxing gym break into one of Pearson’s secret marijuana growing labs. Towards the end of the movie, things get increasingly complex and at times confusing for the audience as a result of the rapid-fire script and the revelation of several big twists in the plotline that puts into question the narrative told by Fletcher who has ulterior motives for recounting the story to Raymond. Overall, although occasionally the film is slow-paced and not as flashy as one would expect from the filmmaker, I found it to be a refreshing revisit to a classic Guy Ritchie movie after a string of bad movies very much out of line with his well-known gangster comedies.