The Gentlemen (2020)

Before Guy Ritchie had a project bomb at the box office (King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword) and before he dived into a Disney classic (Aladdin), he exploded on to the scene with a couple of amazing British crime comedy films in Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch. Those films were absolutely classic and now in 2020 he is back with another crime comedy in The Gentlemen. Hugh Grant (About A Boy) plays Fletcher, the best undercover reporter in the UK who happens to break in to the house of the Consigliere to the biggest weed dealer in all of the UK in Ray (Charlie Hunnam) to spin the tale of how he knows what his boss has been up to for ransom money. Ray will though listen to the tale that Fletcher spews because it's one hell of an interesting tale of betrayal, greed, and how they are still some Gentlemen out there. The film stars Matthew McConaughey (Dazed And Confused) as Mickey Pearson, Michelle Dockery (Non-Stop) as Rosalind Pearson, Colin Farrell (In Bruges) as Coach, Jeremy Strong (The Judge) as Matthew, Henry Golding (Last Christmas) as Dry Eye, Eddie Marsan (Sherlock Holmes) as Big Dave, Chidi Ajufo (The Widow) as Bunny, Tom Wu (Hobbs & Shaw) as Lord George, Jason Wong (Solo: A Star Wars Story) as Phuc, Franz Drameh (Edge Of Tomorrow) as Benny, and Eliot Sumner (No Time To Die) as Laura Pressfield.

First you cannot talk about the film without talking about the performances first because there is such an amazing cast here and that is worth talking about. First thing I will say is that this may not be the most over the top performance from Matthew McConaughey that we are used to in my most roles, but this is A Time To A Kill, Lincoln Commercials, We Are Marshall, etc. kind of a role where he lets his natural charisma just take over. After watching this, I could believe that he was the biggest drug dealer in the UK, but right up there with him was the brilliant Charlie Hunnam who as I said plays his calm cool, and collective consigliere. Then to top it all off, you throw in the brilliant Colin Farrell who was tailor made for that role of the coach as he brought some of the best comedic moments in the film like he did for In Bruges and so much more. That is just the tip of the iceberg because there were so many working parts and so many people did a fantastic job so the acting was top notch. I definitely loved the story that was being told and the way it was told was very different. Fletcher is telling Ray this story as if he were pitching a movie idea and we watch the events unfold before our very eyes which was great. The cinematography was great and the tone of the film matched that of England, always gloomy, grey skies for them. This may not be an Oscar contender, but this film was the definition of fun. Nothing more and nothing less, but just a fun film to watch which is why I am going to give the film an A- for a final grade.