Guy Ritchie movies do not always hit for me but more often than not when his films do work it is the ones centered on London and its criminal elements such as The Gentlemen.

The Gentlemen focuses on Mickey Pearson (Matthew McConaughey) an American crime boss whose has built an empire selling marijuana who now wants to retire. Pearson is looking to sell his operation to a fellow American coming into the UK’s criminal world, Matthew (Jeremy Strong.) Partnered with Pearson in his drug empire and operating a high-end automotive garage of her own his Pearson’s wife Rosalind (Michelle Dockery) and Pearson’s right-hand man Ray (Charlie Hunnan.) Things are complicated by a local and rival drug kingpin known as Lord George (Tom Wu) and his young protégé Dry Eye (Henry Golding.) the vast majority of the film occurs in flashback as told by the devilishly impish and overly greedy investigative reporter Fletcher (Hugh Grant.) Stray secondary characters including a powerful tabloid editor and various young thugs add further complications making it likely that Pearson’s retirement may be in the form a long cold dirt nap.

This film is much more like Ritchey at best such as Lock Stock, and Two Smoking barrels or Snatch than his more recent fare Aladdin or King Arthur: Legend of the Sword and we are all the better for it. This movie moves along at a fast clip never slowing down and risking audience boredom. The characters are lively, fascinating, and nearly impossible to ignore. This performance by Hugh grant is hands down my favorite and gives Grant more to do than a mere display of bumbling charm. Michele Dockery giver a performance that is utterly controlled and yet full of passion while Colin Farrell steals scenes with another talented accented turn.

Production design never forgot to be stylish but without ever letting style overshadow the story being told and while some of the music was not to my tastes it all fit the film perfectly.

Sunday Morning watching this film with my sweetie-wife was a perfect end to the weekend. While there is violence in this movie, it’s not overly graphic and shouldn’t be a reason for you to miss this gem.