The cunning and very “slippery” private detective Fletcher (Hugh Grant) shows up at the mansion of a man named Ray (Charlie Hunnam). Ray is the closest assistant and right hand of the very big crime boss Mickey Pearson (Matthew McConaughey), the owner of a whole network of hidden plantations for growing marijuana.
Fletcher tells Ray that on behalf of the publisher of a scandalous tabloid, a certain Big Dave (Eddie Marsan), he dug up a bunch of dirt on his boss. Big Dave promised Fletcher £150,000 for compromising evidence, but Fletcher is sure that Mickey will want to intercept the publication of compromising evidence in the tabloid. To prevent this from happening, Fletcher is ready to hand over all the materials to Mickey for 20 million pounds. At the moment, Mickey is preparing to go out of business and is about to sell his plantation chain to an American Jewish mobster named Matthew (Jeremy Strong) for 400 million. So Fletcher thinks $20 million to keep the deal from falling through is perfectly reasonable.
Ray first needs to figure out what Fletcher really knows. Fletcher tells the whole story to Ray, presenting it as a crime movie script. At the same time, Fletcher from time to time invents something, on which Ray periodically catches him, but Fletcher believes that it is more interesting this way.
The story is really shaky. In addition to Mickey, Ray and Matthew, a young but very assertive Chinese named Dry Eye (Henry Golding) will also participate in it, with whom a lot of things will be connected, and a man nicknamed Coach, along with his boxing guys, who are fond of creating combat vids for posting them online.
***
Finally! Fans of Guy Ritchie have been waiting for such a film for twenty long years – since the days of “Big Jackpot”! As you know, Guy Ritchie had a terrible tragedy in his life – he married Madonna. And it would be nice to just get married, but she drugged the director with something so vigorous that he shot the comedy melodrama “Gone” with Madonna, for which his fans almost crucified him. Melodrama, Guy, melodrama! What’s wrong with you motherfucker?! What Madonna bit you, Guy, come to your senses, Guy!
Guy, in general, wanted to come to his senses, but the damage went too far, so he also took Luc Besson as a producer, after which he produced an absolutely indistinct film “Revolver”, in which the quite original director Guy Ritchie for some reason very ineptly imitated David Lynch . Fortunately, at the box office, “Revolver” failed with the same wild crash as “Gone”, after which Richie realized that this was not necessary either.
In 2008, Richie released the film “Rock and Roll”, where he tried to imitate his former self, and you could even watch it, but he didn’t succeed in real rock and roll, but he got some kind of pop rehash , in which there were almost no new ideas.
Then the director took up purely commercial cinema in the form of “Sherlock Holmes” in a new way and its sequel, then released a very nice and stylish picture “Agents of A.N.K.L.”, which was planned as the beginning of the franchise, but failed at the box office, and This is where the franchise died.
After that, for some reason, Richie tried to start a new franchise – like a historical one, where King Arthur and gopniks in tights acted, but then the movie turned out very so-so, and failed again at the box office, so the franchise also died on takeoff.
Then Guy filmed Aladdin, and the fans finally gave up on him: it became clear that he would continue to make do with commercial crafts, so more, boys, no cards, no money, no two barrels, we disperse.
And suddenly Richie gives out “Gentlemen”! Absolutely atomic cinema, and in the old cool style, except that his favorite London gopniks dressed up in expensive suits of A.N.K.L. American. But, by the way, Guy has always been for a multicultural movement, so let’s forgive the American, who actually only adds color.
The sphere of purely authorial interests of the director is traditional: lots and lots of grass, serious crime bosses, tough girlfriends of crime bosses, ethnic crime bosses, petty crime bosses, gopnitskaya lads of all stripes and, at the very bottom of the food chain, the impoverished and good-for-nothing British aristocracy, to which, we note, Guy Ritchie himself belongs: the pedigree of the director stretches from the English King Edward, and his youth was spent in the estate of the 17th century.
Events are developing dashingly and dynamically, the manner of shooting and editing is original and easily recognizable, the dialogues are cool, the jokes are black-humorous and funny, and what a chic set of characters here, in the roles of which excellent actors literally light up, is just a celebration of the soul and heart. Add to this Fletcher’s inventions, because of which it is not immediately possible to understand what he invented there and what really happened – and we get two sets of pleasure for one price, because it could have been so, but it could have been completely different. .
What is happening does not seem outdated at all, especially since Richie makes full use of all sorts of modern trends like Internet videos with the number of views, and also uses advanced marijuana cultivation technologies with a twinkle.
At the same time, there is a moral here: Mickey, for all his coolness, on principle produces only marijuana, which will soon be completely legalized, so the enterprise will need to be put on an IPO, and strongly condemns the Chinese who produce hard drugs. I, says Mickey, lead the world into a bright future, and you only destroy it. A commendable position of a worthy member of society, as we think with the cat Bublik.
The acting of the main characters is amazing. Hugh Grant revels in the role of the cynical and corrupt Fletcher, who plays a dangerous game with very dangerous people. And I like these roles in Grant much more than his former image of “Mickey – blue eyes” (by the way, the film itself with that name is cute and funny).
Charlie Hunnam in “King Arthur of the Sword” Richie was completely pale, like his royal semiperdon, but here he liked. Ray is clearly in the style of his coolest boss – impeccable clothes, meticulous grooming, trendy glasses, trendy beard – but if you get him, then Ray becomes a little very dangerous.
Matthew McConaughey played Mickey Pearson to perfection. A kind of lion in the jungle, he is both in appearance – the king of animals, and in habits. Spectacular, incredibly stylish, powerful, cool – it’s even hard to say who could play Mickey so well. Well, except that, for example, Bradley Cooper could withstand a similar level, and even then, in my opinion, McConaughey is still cooler. And with him, the star of Downton Abbey, Michelle Dockery, was very cool in a pair, who played a frank tear-off here, and I liked her much more in this role than in the role of Lady Mary.
From about the middle of the picture, a man named Coach, played by Colin Farrell, appears among the main acting characters, and I have not seen such a colorful Farrell for a long time. The coach is just in the best traditions of the characters of the old Guy Ritchie: incredibly funny plaid tracksuits were invented for him and his pupils, obviously mocking the corporate style of Burberry, the coach communicates chic with his wards, touchingly tries to make amends with Mickey, and he has a very funny manner of speaking.
Crazy Rich Asians’ Henry Golding was a bit of a surprise to play the cocky Chinese dubbed Dry Eye. (By the way, Golding is half Malay and half English, but who cares?) The character is interesting, but against the background of the rest of the coolness, he was still somewhat lost. And in vain he underestimated the paperweight, in vain.
From the point of view of the plot, everything here is like a rollercoaster (which are actually United Statesns). As soon as you take off, you immediately fall down. And then you take off again. And you hoot again, squealing with pleasure. At the same time, the chain of events unwinds quite logically and I did not notice any obvious inconsistencies here. Here are pianos in the bushes – yes, they are present, but these are cinematic laws, there’s nothing to be done. And in this case, we only welcomed these pianos, because we are for high-quality and dynamic music, and what kind of music is without a good piano, even if it is slightly peeled by branches?
And this is really, really “old Richie”, but Richie is not young and hooligan, but mature, stylish and still hooligan. Plus defiantly politically incorrect, about which some reviewers groan. But Bublik and I, on the contrary, are glad that in the current swamp of political correctness and tolerance there are still islands in which the characters are not shy to speak the way they actually speak.
Primetime: Hey Ernie, what are you doing? Go train, black freak! I’m here alone!
Ernie: – He called me a black freak.
Coach: – Yes, I did.
Ernie: – This is racism, so it is impossible.
Coach: – But you’re black and you’re ugly, Ernie. He doesn’t really care what race you are.
Ernie: – The fact that I’m black has nothing to do with the fact that I’m ugly.
Coach: – He didn’t mean that all blacks are freaks. He said you’re a freak, Ernie, that has nothing to do with it. I would venture to suggest that he wanted to show you his friendliness.
Ernie: Primetime is a gypsy. I’m not saying “gypsy freak”!
Coach: – Why? Maybe he’ll like it. Unless, of course, you say it in a friendly way.
In translation, of course, the charm of the dialogue (there, in fact, the word “cunt” sounds) is noticeably lost. By the way, about the translation. There are several of them walking around the web. I listened to the licensed dubbing, which was at the box office. The translation, as far as I can judge, is not bad, but, since in the original many characters constantly swear, and besides, they have a very characteristic manner of pronunciation, this, of course, is lost in translation. Although the main characters were voiced well – primarily Fletcher, Mickey and Ray. It turned out worse with the Coach, but I can’t say that dubbing ruined everything in general – no, they tried.
I also listened to a two-voice voiceover, in which they swear, but quite carefully, without pedaling this matter. So, in general, it sounds more authentic, but here the quality of the voice acting, of course, is an order of magnitude lower.
Well, going back to the film itself – we can say that we are delighted. Perfectly done simply from all sides: style, drive, excellent dialogues, dashing plot twists, bewitching uncertainty about the future. Come on, Richie, come on, don’t stop! You’re back again, Aladdin is in your drawbar!
The Gentlemen movie meaning
Director: Guy Ritchie Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnam, Henry Golding, Hugh Grant, Michelle Dockery, Jeremy Strong, Eddie Marsan, Jason Wong, Colin Farrell, Layne Renee
Budget: $22 million (estimated), Worldwide gross: $117 million
Crime tragicomedy, USA, 2019, 113 min.