Mickey Pearson (Matthew McConaughey) was a American guy who gained access into Oxford University by way of a scholarship. From there, he was able to cultivate a thriving underground marijuana business and establish his own criminal organization with his loyal henchman Ray (Charlie Hunnam). Now hoping to retire, Pearson planned to sell his business to American billionaire Matthew Berger (Jeremy Strong) for a cool $400 million.
However, the deal was made more complicated by Pearson's cockney wife Rosalind (Michelle Dockery), Chinese gangsters led young upstart Dry Eye (Henry Golding), Russian gangsters, delinquent boxers and their Coach (Colin Farrell), a tabloid editor Big Dave (Eddie Marsan) and his underhanded private investigator Fletcher (Hugh Grant) who had written up his interesting findings in the form of a screenplay for sale.
British writer-director Guy Ritchie in the late 1990s burst into the scene with a couple of crime comedies "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" (1998) and "Snatch" (2000) with accents so thick I wished there were subtitles. From there he became Madonna's husband (2000-2008) and had gone on to more mainstream films like "Sherlock Holmes" (2009 and sequel in 2011) and the live-action "Aladdin" (2019). He returns to his ensemble crime-comedy roots with "The Gentlemen" and he proved he is a master of this genre.
Matthew McConaughey was always cool as a cucumber as Mickey Pearson, only getting ruffled when his wife was in peril. Charlie Hunnam may have been a bland leading man in films like "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword" (2017, also by Ritchie), but here as Ray, he was actually charismatic. Hugh Grant was so sleazy funny as Fletcher, while Colin Farrell was so nonchalantly funny as Coach -- they were the best parts of the film. Henry Golding, so debonair in "Crazy Rich Asians," needed some time to be convincing as the ruthless bad guy Dry Eye. Michelle Dockery, my first time time to see her outside "Downton Abbey," held her own as Rosalind, the only rose among the thorny lads.
The plot gets interesting from the get go when an attempt was immediately on Mickey Pearson's life. Then the whole story began to unfold when Fletcher was attempting to sell his findings (in movie script form) to Pearson's right-hand man Ray for 20M pounds sterling. From there, we meet all the characters come and go as the complicated story went back and forth in time, with certain rewind edits whenever Ray thought that Fletcher went too overboard with his storytelling and characterizations. Once you get into the groove and the thick accents, it won't let go. You may even want to watch it all over again to get all the connections straight. 8/10
This review sounds a bit amateurish. Mickey is not really a criminal as such Just a sofisticated supplier...The Chain of events started with Big Dave commissioning Fletcher to investigate Mickey for offending n embarrassing him at the party and it gets thicken cos of Matthews betrayal ....not cos of Matthews wife! She’s got nothing to do with it lol
ReplyDeleteAlso Fletcher wasn’t selling the draft screenplay to Ray ...he was selling the evidences to Mickey ! Ray was just the messenger!! And going back to the draft screenplay ...it was just a bonus if the deal goes through so they can make a movie out of it !!!!!
Did u really watch the movie or just read some daft reviews n copied it ????
Your review is embarrassing...u need a new job cos honestly speaking....you are not good at this. My vocabulary is bad but yours is as bad as mine.
Peace
Thank you for reading my review, and for your comment. I am an amateur writer. I write purely for my own passion for movies and writing.
DeleteMickey was a businessman sure, but isn't marijuana cultivation and trading is a crime? :-) About the wife, yes she's not directly involved, but it was because of her that Mickey became more violent.
Technically yes it’s a crime but the way you put it out sounds like he’s a proper criminal criminal.
DeleteAnyone would get violent when somebody is trying to rape or kill your wife ....come on man that’s not the plot or essence of this movie.
If u have watched the movie you would know that he was violent already when he was trying to establish himself ( remember when he hacked the addicts or dealers ? )
I think u need to watch or re-watch the movie again to understand the story before making a review about it. Cos honestly, u have it all wrong.
As I mentioned, I do not mind watching it again in order to get the story straight. It is that good. :-)
DeleteThat’s a very good idea ...watching it again should help you get the story straight.
DeleteEnjoy it
So from your perspective, Mickey turning more violent is the story ???
ReplyDeleteThe essence of the story is very simple: 3 betrayals ( Matthew, dry eyes and Fletcher ) that’s it ....
Yes, I understand that point. The wife is really not directly involved in the main plot, but nevertheless an important person in Mickey's life. I just included her in the list of supporting characters in the second paragraph for completion. Thank you again for your comments.
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