The Gentlemen

Guy Ritchie returns to his roots in male-centered gangster comedy with mixed results in The Gentlemen, another story of double crosses, blackmail, macho posturing, and dishonor among thieves.

As you would expect, the British filmmaker’s latest effort has style and attitude to spare, yet struggles to sustain its comic momentum or generate sufficient intrigue amid its whirlwind of quirks.

The nonlinear story has a narrator of sorts in Fletcher (Hugh Grant), a private investigator who sells gossip and sleaze about the London criminal underworld to the tabloids. His latest tale is a doozy, relayed in the form of a screenplay-for-sale to Ray (Charlie Hunnam), an insider in a deal gone wrong.

Ray is connected to Mickey (Matthew McConaughey), an American businessman who has amassed fortune selling cannabis plants to upper-middle class Brits. He’s ready to walk away and essentially retire, but Mickey’s attempted sale to a billionaire (Jeremy Strong) encounters some roadblocks.

Chinese gangsters dispatch an associate (Henry Golding) to offer a counterbid, a loose-cannon boxing coach (Colin Farrell) enters the picture with designs on a big payday, and plenty of periphery folks are killed along the way.

As details are gradually revealed about motives and loyalties, the film’s sharp dialogue and handful of clever narrative twists doesn’t matter if we’re not invested in the characters or their schemes.

Instead, the self-reflexive nature of Ritchie’s screenplay tends to feel pretentious. “You’re cunning and creative, aren’t you Fletcher — coming up with a plan like this,” posits Ray during an early example of self-congratulation.

Fortunately, the performances are more compelling than the material. Grant makes for an engaging tour guide trough this multicultural parade of rogues and scoundrels trying to outwit and outmaneuver one another in the most suave and debonair manner possible.

More effective as a lighthearted farce than a dark crime thriller, it’s familiar territory for Ritchie (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels), and not just for the gritty urban milieu. A chase sequence set to a cut from the Wu-Tang Clan provides a playful highlight.

Still, despite some stylish flourishes, The Gentlemen is only a mildly amusing throwback to the director’s glory days. As it turns out, he and his characters are older, but not necessarily wiser.

Rated R, 113 minutes.