It’s January so I have the lowest-of-LOW expectations for any film coming out right now. I was surprised to see a Guy Ritchie movie was being released, and even more shocked by its sparkling cast (Hugh Grant, Matthew McConaughey, Colin Farrell, Charlie Hunnam and Henry Golding). Ritchie has directed some stinkers though (namely King Arthur: Legend of the Sword) so I assumed The Gentlemen would fall in that same column.
Oh, how I love a pleasant surprise.
The Gentlemen stars McConaughey as a drug-kingpin who plans to sell his business but runs into greedy bad-guys along the way. Hugh Grant is the seedy journalist who threatens to expose them all and his toothy performance alone might be worth the ticket price. Tack on the trademark Guy Ritchie slow-mo-shots and a fantastic soundtrack and you’ve got a solid, watchable film.
Remember how I walked in with below-the-line expectations, though?
The Gentlemen is extremely lazy. It’s scattered, unevenly paced and sometimes surprisingly slow. Hunnam often seems unsure of what scene he’s filming and McConaughey’s performance is so shallow, he just might be doing a Lincoln commercial. (Also, on a completely unrelated note, can someone please tell him to lay off the hair-product? Ew.)
The Gentlemen has enough big, rowdy, FUN chunks to be forgiven for its shortcomings, though. It reminds me of the Ocean 11 films, where the story-lines are preposterous but the cast is having such a blast, you can’t help but enjoy it, too. Focus on the music, that fizzy dialogue and anytime Colin Farrell’s “Toddlers” show up and you should be pleasantly surprised, too. (B-)