Dubbed as an all-cast spectacular, Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen premiered in movie theatres nationwide on Friday 6 March.
The Gentlemen: What’s the movie about?
The action-packed comedy runs for about an hour and 53 minutes and follows the life of American ex-pat and marijuana kingpin Mickey Pearson (played by Matthew McConaughey).
Seemingly jaded from the fast life of the United Kingdom’s (UK) illicit drug underworld, Pearson gets the word around that he is looking to cash out of the business, a decision that triggers a series of events that shape the context of the film.
McConaughey takes on the role with a stellar supporting cast, which includes:
- Charlie Hunnam (Ray)
- Michelle Dockery (Rosalind Pearson)
- Jeremy Strong (Matthew)
- Lyne Renee (Jackie)
- Colin Farrell (Coach)
- Henry Golding (Dr Eye)
- Tom Wu (Lord George)
- Chidi Ajufo (Bunny)
- Hugh Grant (Fletcher)
- Eddie Marsan (Big Dave)
- Jason Wong (Phuc); and others.
Cast members speak on Guy Ritchie
For McConaughey, working with Ritchie was an honour he could not refuse.
“I knew it was the type that had the particular Guy Ritchie music and meter to it. People talk in his films like he edits them. It’s very clean and to the point. This is the type of world and story that I wanted to work with Guy Ritchie in. This is where he has left his mark already as a very original voice,” he said.
In Hunnam’s view, the level of autonomy Ritchie offers the people he works with is one of the reasons why he enjoys the director’s company.
“He encourages not only the actors, but every department to go off, explore and do our best work and if he feels that it is not quite pulling off the Guy Ritchie filter then he will tweak and adjust,” he explained.
How did the movie perform at the box office?
The Gentlemen was released in US theatres on 24 January and, in that region, grossed over $36 million (R578 million).
South Africa’s theatres only got The Gentlemen on Friday 6 March, an added incentive to the movie’s worldwide gross income of $110 million (R1.76 billion).
Critics review of The Gentlemen
This is what critics thought of the Guy Ritchie original:
“Guy Ritchie makes a very Guy Ritchie movie, this time with Matthew McConaughey, Hugh Grant and Charlie Hunnam.”
Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
“Early on, there is a shooting, but who has been shot? and how and why and by whom? only gets revealed over the course of the film’s most entertaining digressions.”
Michael O’Sullivan, Washington Post
“You enjoy the challenge of figuring out who’s doing what to whom and for what devious reasons, but it all goes out of your head once the story ends and the lights come up.”
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal
“You’ll find this hard to believe, but Matthew McConaughey used to make movies about stuff other than drugs.”
Johnny Oleksinski, New York Post
“What it lacks in freshness and depth, The Gentlemen certainly makes up for in cartoon-y bluster and fun details. Welcome home, Mr. Ritchie.”
Ian Freer, Empire
