Lady...and Gentlemen

There are all sorts of reasons why I might go to see a movie.   Perhaps it is well reviewed.   Or maybe it seems to be so bad that I want to write a scathing review on this blog.   

Or, as in the case of "The Gentlemen," it's got somebody in the cast that I like.  Here, that would be Michelle Dockery, Lady Mary from "Downton Abbey."  That was my sole primary motivation to see this film.   I mean, she is quite fetching (a neat British word) in the poster above.

Of course, the title of the movie is "The Gentlemen," so she's certainly not the major focus of this film.  It's all about the guys and I can say that I surprisingly enjoyed what I saw.   It's vile and evil and funny and profane and violent.  All the things I should hate.  But not this time.   For some bizarre reason, I had a lot of fun.  Go figure.

"The Gentlemen" comes from director Guy Ritchie and it has all the ear marks of his brand.  Like I said, it's vile and evil and funny and profane and violent.  As an example, there's a certain word for a female body part.   It's the word most never use.  Here it's pretty much uttered over 100 times and shows up in the script more times than the word "the."  Somehow, after a while, I didn't even notice.   

Former Oscar winner (still trying to figure that out) Matthew McConaughey plays Mickey Pearson, a would-be marijuana factory head in London.   He's sitting on a potential pile of big dough and all the other sleazeballs want a piece of the actions so there is dealing and double dealing and triple dealing to do so.  As a result, there's a myriad of "funny" on-screen deaths that remind you of the last "Road Runner" cartoon you saw.  Death in a freezer.   Death falling from a high rise.  Avoiding death jumping over a railway trestle only to be run over (to death) by a train.   You want to look away, but, in reality, you don't want to miss something.

The tale is being related by a scumbag of a screenwriter played by an almost unrecognizable Hugh Grant and he is obviously now settling into the "non-romantic-comedy" phase of his career.  As for the aforementioned Ms. Dockery, she plays Pearson's wife and has her own neat niche in the film.  She is the owner of an auto repair shop run totally by women.  Michelle's really not in the film much but you do wish you saw more of that repair shop.

"The Gentlemen" features more twists and turns than a pretzel factory but it kept me glued to the screen.  Okay, admittedly, I was waiting for Michelle Dockery's next scene.  But the wait was never a boring one.  Sure, this film is not to be everybody's cup of tea.   But it was entertaining and sometimes that's all you want.

Well, I wanted more Michelle Dockery but beggars can't be choosers.

LEN'S RATING:  Three stars.

Dinner last night:  Leftover sausage gumbo.