The Gentlemen
The Gentlemen is a 2019 gangster film written, directed and produced by Guy Ritchie, who developed the story along with Ivan Atkinson and Marn Davies. The film stars Matthew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnam, Henry Golding, Michelle Dockery, Jeremy Strong, Eddie Marsan, Colin Farrell, and Hugh Grant. It follows an American drug lord in England who is looking to sell his business, setting off a chain of blackmail and schemes to undermine him. The Gentlemen premiered at the Curzon Mayfair Cinema on December 3, 2019, and was released theatrically in the United Kingdom on January 1, 2020, by Entertainment Film Distributors, and in the United States on January 24, 2020, by STXfilms. It received generally positive reviews from critics and was also a commercial success, grossing $115 million worldwide against its $22 million budget. A spin-off television series was released by Netflix in 2024 with Theo James starring in the lead role.
Buenas tardes, Raymondo. [chuckles] I should stab you with that fucking rolling pin. Oh, don't be cunty. I was just hoping we could have a cozy little drink together. So, I've got a meeting on Saturday at your favorite newspaper. As the best private investigator in this smoky little town... good evening, ladies and gentlemen... they are ready to put 150 grand in my pocket to give them some filth. Good for me, that, but in this case... it's bad for you.
The Gentlemen
We just went from £150,000 to 20 million. That's a steep rise in 30 seconds. Yeah, but I would argue that you're lucky, because that is nothing compared to what I could, and perhaps should, be asking. Oh, well, thank God you're not greedy, Fletcher, you deluded, shit-eating cunt. [chuckles] I quite like it when you talk dirty to me.
The Gentlemen
Now, I'm seeing this through a lens, I am, and I'm not talking about the small screen. It's not TV, Raymond. As I said, old-school cinema format. It's what we in the business called anamorphic, or ratio 2.35 to 1. And I want you to join me on this cinematic journey, 'cause it is cinema, Ray. It's beautiful, beautiful cinema.
The Gentlemen
Enter our protagonist. He's good-looking, he's gorgeous, he's golden age, he's a proper handsome cunt. His name is Mickey Pearson. Unique background has our Mickey. American born, Rhodes scholar, so he's born clever but poor. Now, that's quite a leap from a trailer park in Americana to the thousand-year-old university in old Angleterre, where he studies the dark art of horticulture. But he never finished his education, never went home, because... he found his vocation. A naughty vocation. He's a bad boy. He starts dealing the dirty wonder weed to his rich, British, upper-class uni pals and realizes he's rather good at it. He's clear and objective about ambition and he can surf the echelons of our complicated culture.
The Gentlemen