We’re in somewhat of a golden age of the action comedy—in the past few years, we’ve seen it in two Kingsman adventures (with a third in the works), just about every Marvel movie, and next month’s Knives Out. And if you want to question me on this, remember that we were working with all-Brendan-Fraser-everything and Kangaroo Jack in the aughts.
One of the genre’s best directors is Guy Ritchie, who was behind The Man from U.N.C.L.E and two underrated Sherlock Holmes movies. And after helming Aladdin for Disney, Ritchie is, thankfully, returning to the world of guns, cheeky quips, and British streetwear in The Gentlemen.
The Gentlemen follows Matthew McConaughey’s Mickey Pearson, who makes a living doing the most Matthew McConaughey character thing possible—running a weed empire in London. When Pearson starts looking to sell his business, it conjures up a murderer’s row of British stars for the ensuing antics—including Charlie Hunnam, Henry Golding, Colin Farrell, Hugh Grant, and—gasp—Succession’s Jeremy Strong.
Judging by the first trailer, which dropped this morning, we’ll have another Ritchie romp to remember. Golding’s shearling-jacketed villain is described as a “millennial firework.” Pearson looks like someone crossed True Detective’s Rust Cohle with McConaughey’s Wild Turkey commercial persona. Plus, there’s Korean barbecue. Oh, and Jeremy Strong is definitely playing his character like Kendall Roy’s id come to life.
The Gentlemen hits cinemas on 24 January, 2020.
