Director Guy Ritchie built a career in the British crime comedy genre, from “Snatch” to “Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels,” the English filmmaker built up a fanbase in the late ‘90s and early aughts that would follow him anywhere he went. The problem was that where he went, the ensuing paycheck-driven studio fare he decided to make, wasn’t what his fans signed up for. I mean, would you call “King Arthur: Legend of the Sword,” “Aladdin,” “Swept Away,” and two “Sherlock Holmes” movies as anything but paycheck fare.
Ritchie is going back to his roots with “The Gentleman,” which stars Matthew McConaughey, Hugh Grant, Colin Farrell, Charlie Hunnam, Michelle Dockery, Jeremy Strong, and Henry Golding.
The just-released trailer has McConaughey’s Mickey Pearson, who’s built a marijuana empire in London, trying to cash out of the business forever. This sets off a series of events that include bribery and blackmail in an attempt to steal his domain out from under him. It doesn’t look like anything special, and its January 24th release date is no doubt of concern, but that cast looks great and, again, this is Ritchie going back to what made him a marquee name in the first place. Attention will be paid.