The Gentlemen

A sad and unwelcome moment when one of the best directors puts a group of people I love (Matthew McConaughey, Colin Farrell, Charlie Hunnam) or even adore (Hugh Grant, Michelle Dockery) in front of the camera and creates a new contribution to one of the most beloved genres, and the public reacts more than positively – and I end up sadly shaking my head at the result. The form, the pacing, it's all there. But sticking to drugs, poses, and dialog competitions about who can pee further after the age of fifty seems at least unfortunate to me, in some twists even stagnant. In the details, it's still the same Guy Ritchie from Snatch, but on the whole, for the first time ever, nope. (10/11/2020)

This is how 2020 is supposed to start! The Gentlemen is Ritchie’s best film since Snatch, i.e. his best in 20 years. The screenplay is great in terms of both the dialogue and the plot with its polished characters, as well as the playful outlining of the narrative as if the script had been written by one of them. And, of course, the use of charismatic actors to make up the whole marvellous gang. I commend how Ritchie’s grown-up entertainment is verbally crude and a lot of people shout in it, but it doesn’t contain any graphic violence and emphasizes the difference between the immorality of the bad guys and the high character of the “good gangsters”. The Gentlemen is a maturely clever gangster film with elegance. McConaughey is the biggest boss in it, but Hunnam is the coolest guy. And, of course, Farrell is the funniest. (29/01/2020)

Ritchie is a bit restrained this time and delivers a witty action-comedy with direct, typically British humour, which is not for everyone, but it has a sophisticated script and McConaughey as an alpha-male who is hard not root for. A film about drugs presented in such a way that it makes you believe it’s cool to be in the business. Of course, as long as you don’t complicate things, as is the case here. Among the superb, I would put Hugh Grant on top. After the insane mangling of the classic King Arthur, this is finally a return to waters Ritchie understands and relishes. The result does look accordingly, too. (29/03/2020)

It’s as if Guy Ritchie was sorry about Aladdin and came up with a movie his fans wanted to see. He was obviously enjoying himself. While I’m not one of those who haven’t been satisfied with Ritchie’s work from recent years, I truly enjoyed The Gentleman;it’s an entertaining movie with a smart and funny screenplay (the whole movie is actually an anecdote whose sole punch line is a single, almost the final, scene), excellent actors including Matthew McConaughey in the role of a modern Vito Corleone, go-getting and sure-handed direction... what more could you ask for? (10/02/2020)

Four stars, by a hair’s breadth. It’s not as sophisticated as it wants to be, the final twist is rather banal, and the lukewarm and cluttered first half does the film no credit. Ritchie can do better than that and the current 89% rating on this site is completely overblown. All in all, I enjoyed myself: there are a couple of good ideas and you cannot help but root for excessively elegant McConaughey... but I don’t feel like I’ll want to rewatch this. I almost feel compelled to paraphrase the Bard in saying this is much ado about… well, not entirely nothing, but a slightly above-average film. (02/04/2020)