The Gentlemen (Guy Ritchie, 2020)

[Mr Sheldrake]

The Gentlemen

This might set the record for the use of the c-word in a mainstream film. Hugh Grant might set that all by himself. The word comically peppers his every sentence. This of course is jarring to a US audience as the word is still strictly taboo here.

Grant is only one of the actors transformed. One might not have expected with this and A Very English Scandal the feral range of his talent considering the lightness of his rom-com days. I’ve always felt a mild breeze might knock over Michelle Dockery’s wispiness, here she reveals a simmering ferocity that eventually explodes. Henry Golding transitions seamlessly from heartthrob to demonic killer.

Colin Farrell outdoes them all, an underrated actor in need of a great role. Matthew McGonaughy illustrates the potential pitfalls of major stars doing tv commercials in their home country. Their irritating ubiquity may have diminished the appeal of his film personae.

It’s an empty movie to be sure despite all the clever shenanigans, with Ritchie gleefully misanthropic and non-pc. The one qualification to the misanthropy is that he does indeed love actors.

[MichaelB]

The Gentlemen

This might set the record for the use of the c-word in a mainstream film. Hugh Grant might set that all by himself. The word comically peppers his every sentence. This of course is jarring to a US audience as the word is still strictly taboo here.

It’s pretty taboo in the UK, too, but the crucial semantic difference is that it’s explicitly misogynist in the US while completely non-gendered in the UK and Australia, as illustrated by this recent example (a satirical response to a British celebrity recently coming out as gay).

[colinr0380]

I always think it is quite defamatory against perfectly respectable genitalia to have them be associated with such people.

There is also that brilliant story about the censoring of the single use of the c-word in Bridget Jones's Diary, I think to get around the BBFC and keep the 15 rating, but unfortunately they accidentally left it audible in the film running underneath director's commentary! So I'm hoping that because of that mix up the first edition of the original DVD of the film becomes a collector's item one day!

[thirtyframesasecond]

I'd have thought in a Guy Ritchie movie, it would sound like "you caaaaaaaahnt", in which case the audience thinks "you can't what?"

[flyonthewall2983]

I'd like to think the way this scene from Spectre played to the audience I saw it with was the sort of common understanding of what the word means elsewhere.

Watched this last night, liked it a lot. I do like me some British crime films but never got much into Ritchie's stuff. Grant and Farrell eat this whole thing up, and I liked McConaughey's anglicized accent.

[therewillbeblus]

Ritchie is going to turn this into a TV series, though no word yet on if and how the cast with return (I haven't seen the film so no idea who's even still alive by the end). I have to imagine it would be challenging to lure this group of actors into such a commitment.