‘THE GENTLEMEN’ DEALS WITH THE DEVIL’S LETTUCE

It’s 2020, and everyone’s favorite Tarentino wannabe is back at it with yet another action-comedy, crime-thriller film.

Presumably tired of working on live-action Disney remakes and questionable retellings of popular children’s stories, Guy Ritchie has returned to retread on his favorite stomping grounds with his latest movie, “The Gentlemen.” Of course, if Ritchie’s previous cockney crime films are anything to go by, you can be sure the men in this movie are anything but gentle.

If you are familiar with Ritchie’s’ early work, the plot of The Gentlemen will sound quite familiar. Taking place in modern-day London, the story follows Mickey Pearson (Mathew McConahaughey), an American expatriate in control of the United Kingdom’s  illegal marijuana trade. Having reached a point in his criminal career where he has achieved everything he wanted, Pearson decides it’s time to hang up his hat and sell his business. But once word of his retirement reaches the streets, several enterprising criminals and interested parties begin to scheme behind the scenes, in classic Ritchie fashion.

Suffice it to say, The Gentlemen is a yet another cockney crime-comedy very much in the spirit of “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” and “Snatch.” But after such a long departure from the genre that brought him into the spotlight, how does Ritchie’s latest film stand up?

If you are looking for the quick answer, the movie is a lot of fun, with enough action and quick dialogue to entertain even the most sour of people. The longer answer is that this movie, is not up to the same quality as Ritchie’s earlier works in the genre. Primarily, the film suffers somewhat from its use of in media res (Latin for a story/plot starting “in the middle of things”), as well as an overabundance of characters. Unlike Snatch or Lock Stock, The Gentlemen is too frenetic and quickly paced to do a proper job of managing its various plot strands.

This storytelling technique, which Ritchie has made synonymous with his work, still functions as a fun and intriguing way of manipulating the plot structure of this film. Unfortunately, too much attention is given to style instead of cohesive pacing. This issue becomes even more exasperated with the extensive cast. 

As always, Ritchie’s characters are suitably charismatic and quippy, but this movie has a habit of introducing one too many witty, cockney mobsters, and at too quick a pace. This results in a lot of fun, but also somewhat underutilized characters. Colin Farrell, for example, plays an Irish boxing coach to a gang of youthful chavs (lower-class individuals trying to dress up, in poor taste) who incite the motivating incident that sets off the plot for the rest of the film. But outside of the few crucial events which require his character’s presence, Farrell doesn’t get to do much.

Speaking of not doing much, the film’s other two protagonists, played by Hugh Grant (Fletcher) and Charlie Hunnam (Ray), spend the majority of the movie eating steaks and sipping whiskey as Fletcher narrates the story to Ray. Fletcher does this under the guise of a screenplay that not so subtly describes all the information necessary to blackmail Ray’s boss, Mickey. While this tactic acts as an interesting plot device, it occasionally feels like Ritchie uses it, and the character of Fletcher, as an opportunity to insert his opinions on filmmaking, rather than having them act in service to the story.

Those moments are fleeting, but on the whole, this movie feels as if it’s trying too hard to be clever at times. This is especially evident in the dialogue. Ritchie’s dialogue has always been a bit faux Tarentino, but The Gentlemen ups it to a level that feels just a little too tryhard on occasion.

4/5