Hugh Jackman plays Mickey Pearson, a London cannabis kingpin who decides to retire and sell his operation. Matthew McConaughey shows up as Dicky, a Texas businessman who wants to buy it. Michelle Yeoh plays Pippa, a former lover who still holds a grudge. Charlie Hunnam plays Coach, a gangster who wants the business himself. The cast reads like a wish list, and the movie never quite delivers on it.
Trailer, via STXfilms.
The Setup
The premise is simple. Mickey Pearson runs a successful marijuana empire. He wants out. Dicky arrives with cash and a plan. Coach arrives with guns. Pippa arrives with a score to settle. The script sets up a tense game of who gets the business, but the execution keeps getting in its own way.
What Works
The performances are the best part of the film. Jackman plays Mickey as a man who has built an empire and now wants to leave it behind without looking back. McConaughey plays Dicky as a Texan who thinks he can talk his way through anything. Yeoh plays Pippa with a quiet menace that makes her the most interesting character in the room. Hunnam plays Coach with a sneer that feels like a real threat.
The dialogue is sharp in patches. Lines like “We don’t do business with people we don’t respect” land well. The chemistry between Jackman and McConaughey carries scenes that should fall flat. When the film leans on the actors, it works.
Where It Falls Apart
The problem is the plot. The script keeps circling back to the same idea: everyone wants the business, and the only way to get it is to eliminate the competition. That’s fine for an hour. After two hours, it becomes repetitive. The film introduces a rival gang and a hitman subplot, then spends the final stretch repeating the same pattern with new faces. The twist ending, involving a betrayal by a trusted associate, feels like a retread of a plot device the genre has used for decades.
The pacing suffers too. The middle section drags as characters wait around for the next round of threats. A chase scene involving a car and a boat is meant to be exciting. It lands as a mess of editing and gunfire that adds little to the story.
The Running Time
The film runs 123 minutes. That’s long enough to support a tighter plot, but the material doesn’t justify the length. Scenes of Mickey walking his dogs or Dicky talking about Texas could be trimmed without losing anything. The runtime should have been closer to 100 minutes.
A Ranking of the Elements
- The acting — Jackman, McConaughey, Yeoh and Hunnam all bring energy to tired material.
- The dialogue — lines like “We don’t do business with people we don’t respect” land well.
- The pacing — the middle section drags, and the final act repeats itself.
- The plot — the same threat cycle wears thin over two hours.
- The twist ending — a betrayal by a trusted associate feels like a retread of a familiar device.
Key Facts Box
- Title: The Gentlemen
- Director: Guy Ritchie
- Lead actors: Hugh Jackman, Matthew McConaughey, Michelle Yeoh, Charlie Hunnam
- Runtime: 123 minutes
- Score: 5.1/10
The Verdict
The Gentlemen has a great cast and a premise that should work. It never fully commits to being a thriller, a comedy or a drama. The film keeps promising a tense game of who gets the business, then spends its runtime repeating the same threats and betrayals. The result is a film that feels longer than it should and less clever than it claims.
Jackman and McConaughey deserve better than this script. Yeoh deserves better than a supporting role. Hunnam deserves better than a stock villain. The film is watchable in short stretches, but it asks for more attention than it earns.
The score reflects a film with a strong cast and a weak script. It’s not a failure, but it’s not a success either. It’s a missed opportunity, and that’s a shame, because the talent on display could have made something far more memorable.
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