Review of The Gentlemen (2020) by Chrismizerak — 26 Jan 2020

Matthew McConaughey is a suave, collected marijuana dealer with a highly professional business ethic in “The Gentlemen”, the latest from writer-director Guy Ritchie. Ritchie is a talent that I’m not overly familiar with, but I have at least heard about the consistency of his works in that it may not be for everyone’s taste. And if the quality of “The Gentlemen” is any indication, I’d say that’s a fair analysis. “The Gentlemen” is certainly a watchable crime drama, even if it does have some rather odd touches. Anyways, McConaughey is a successful American drug seller doing his operations on the other side of the pond with a British wife, played by Michelle Dockery. He has to contend with other businessmen wanting to buy his company or run it under his nose, which goes about how you’d expect it to go in the drug business. They have to silence witnesses to their crimes, remove evidence from their possession, and fend off an inquisitive journalist, played by Hugh Grant, aiming to expose their operations. To give credit where it’s earned, the film throws many plot twists and surprises into the mixture that I admittedly didn’t see coming. I was tricked into thinking a certain character died only to learn later that it was somebody else stepping into the scene. I thought another player was blackmailing someone else and coming up on top, when in fact, they were getting caught into an elaborate trap. Upon reflection, said twists are earned thanks to initial vagueness and the direction playing the poker face quite literally. The cast turns in solid work with Hugh Grant no longer playing the rom-com leading man that he’s been used to churning out and instead enjoying his time as a sleazy undercover journalist with an agenda. Charlie Hunnam as McConaughey’s right-hand man has a terrific scene where he has to confiscate someone else’s phone whether they cooperate or not. Some cast members like Hunnam or McConaughey get reasonable screen time to shine.

However, other cast members such as Colin Farrell don’t have much time in the spotlight. They work with what they got, but there are times that the narrative feels a little disjointed. This is in the grand scheme of things a typical trait I personally find with films in the crime genre. These films usually move from one separate shootout to the next and count on said conflicts to be the main focus of the story rather than put a cohesive arc in between those episodic elements. It’s not necessarily a bad thing in a few cases. This is simply explaining why in some eyes (mainly mine), crime dramas seem to lack a sense of progression or tension buildup that I expect from any film or genre, regardless of their end goal. Although the way it gets there may not be how I would construct it to make it so, “The Gentlemen” does what it sets out to do which is to provide pulpy crime drama and scenarios for its cast to face. And on that level, that’s the reason most people will see it to begin with.