The Gentlemen

The Gentlemen


The Dove Take:

McConaughey presents a solid performance, but as a greedy gangbanger, his character offers little more than foul language and violence.

Dove Review

The Synopsis:

A British drug lord tries to sell off his highly profitable empire to a dynasty of Oklahoma billionaires.

The Review:

The Gentlemen is not a gentle movie. It is more of a gangster movie with the main villain, Mickey Pearson (Matthew McConaughey), being a drug lord rather than a gentleman. That’s not to say that Pearson doesn’t have some good characteristics–he is an intelligent guy with a beautiful wife, Rosalind (Michelle Dockery). He comments that his wife is a “Cockney Cleopatra to his cowboy Caesar.” He even races across town to save his wife when her life is in danger.

However, the drug world is his world, and this is the substance that destroys lives. He is even known as the “King of Marijuana,” and threatening people seems to come easy to him. He will do what it takes to keep his money and power.

Pearson plans to sell off his British marijuana empire to a gangster named Matthew, but there are those who don’t want Matthew to have it. They want it and will go to great lengths to get it, even if it means killing Pearson. But he’s not easily intimidated. In one scene, he points a gun at one of his opponents and says, “When the lion’s hungry, he eats!” That metaphor pretty much sizes up Pearson, who will kill if he has to in order to keep his social standing and money. Needless to say, when some of his “stuff” comes up missing from a warehouse, he is none-too-happy.

There are some solid actors in the movie, including Colin Farrell, who trains teen M.M.A. (Mixed Martial Arts) students. This part of the plot seems a bit out of place but Farrell is good as always. He stands up for his fighters when a false accusation is thrown their way. Hugh Grant also appears in the film. There’s enough action and mystery as to how it will all go down to keep the movie from totally falling flat.

It is a bit intriguing to watch these well-dressed men turn into lethal machines when they deem it necessary. But the film doesn’t come close to being family-friendly. Although not shown on screen, there is a scene involving a man watching himself on video when he once committed bestiality. The language is rough throughout the film with constant use of the “F” word, and the film shows the lengths some people will go to in order to gain wealth. At any rate, due to the excessive violence and language, the movie falls short of receiving our Dove seal.

Content Description

Faith: None
Integrity: There are a few characters who want to do the right thing but many who don't.
Sex: A man views his own bestiality tape l; a woman gropes her husband’s groin area which is clothed; porn and prostitution are mentioned; strong sexual comments and innuendos are made toward a character; a man intends to rape a woman but her husband shows up in time to stop it; a man puts his hands on another man's leg but then removes it when the man gives him a strong look of forbidding; crude hand gestures are made and in the newspaper it says that a married man was accused of having sex with his butler; who is a man; a joke about Marvin Gaye's last name and a "gay" reference is made.
Language: Strong language throughout including a lot of uses of the "F" bomb; several comments referring to both male and female genitalia; S and many other crude uses of language.
Violence: People shot with a bloody spray resulting and hit with a hammer and a character falls out a window; characters lie in a pool of blood; 2 corpses seen in a freezer and victims of abuse are seen with bruises on their face
Drugs: Constant on-screen marijuana use and smoking; the mention of other drugs like heroin; drug sales; drinking.
Nudity: Cleavage in some scenes; a man is obviously naked under a blanket; some characters only wear aprons over their underclothes.
Other: Arguments; tension between characters; making money from people's addictions; betrayal.


Company: Miramax
Writer: Guy Ritchie & Ivan Atkinson & Marn Davies
Director: Guy Ritchie
Producer: Ivan Atkinson
Genre: Action
Runtime: 113 min.
Industry Rating: R
Reviewer: Ed C.