Guy Ritchie, the maestro of cheeky British crime dramas, is at it again with his latest Netflix series The Gentlemen. The show overflows with rizz (or swagger if you prefer), with leadoff hitter Theo James, and Kaya Scodelario as the manager, accompanied by Giancarlo Esposito, Joely Richardson, Vinnie Jones, and Ray Winstone. With this lineup, you might expect a guaranteed banger (in the American sense). Yet, despite the notable performances, the series doesn’t quite manage to hit all the right moves.
The Gentlemen series (see below for context) drops us into the world of Eddie Halstead, let’s call him “Eddie the Duke” (Theo James), a British aristocrat who unsuspectingly inherits not just his family estate but a massive drug operation, hidden beneath its well-manicured lawns. Alongside him, Kaya Scodelario is Susie, the daughter of a crime boss and a boss chick herself, whose role becomes pivotal in ramping up the drama. These two navigate a world filled with nobility and noble scoundrels, liberally laced with a slew of colorful characters.
Ritchie’s previous version of The Gentlemen, a film that sets the stage for this series, offers a taste of the criminal underworld wrapped in high-class British society. The film reveled in its own form of chaos, a trait that Ritchie has well-established since Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) or my favorite Snatch (2000). However, while the original had its moments, the series seems to…well, you know what, it also grapples with moments of “hell yeah” versus “what the hell.”
“Theo James felt like a natural to play Eddie.” –Guy Ritchie
The chemistry between our leads, James and Scodelario, is palpable. They become something of a Bonnie and Clyde or a reverse Nick and Nora Charles—but more as partners and not so much anything else. The two navigate an intricate criminal world with Eddie as our POV character—giving off a mixture of naivety and cunning—and Susie as the veteran, who’s just trying to keep it all from exploding and blowing their faces off. That combination keeps the audience on their toes.
Yet, the true giggles of the series lie in its ensemble of recurring characters. Giancarlo Esposito brings a touch of sophistication to his role as Uncle Stan, our “Billionaire Reprobate”, whilst (don’t you love British English?) Vinnie Jones, in a reunion with Ritchie, plays The Gamekeeper Geoff. A character as grounded as his profession suggests. Then there’s Daniel Ings, playing the infantile, drug-fueled older brother to Eddie, Freddy. Also known as The Liability, this is a character I would punt into the pits of Tartarus if I were allowed. Which means Ings does the job well. As Freddy, he can even pull off a chicken suit and seem more like an ass when he’s out of it. Which is exactly what the role calls for.
And let’s not forget Michael Vu, aka The Grower, who is a throwback to classic movie stoners. He also has an accent that made me stop the tape—I’m guessing he’s supposed to be Chinese Jamaican but born in the UK, but I’ll have to ask my cousins when the series drops later this week. Not to say Vu isn’t great, he is, but his role feels stereotypical. There’s also an appearance from a family of Travellers—and once again I need input on the depiction—but the actors are great. Oh, and guaranteed to put the fear of church into you is Pearce Quigley as Gospel John (because the other way around would be sacrilegious).
“It was always a priority of ours to have a very strong female character at the heart of the show, who has her own agency and is really running things,” says exec producer and writer Matthew Read. “And Kaya delivers a mixture of charisma, flair and credibility as the daughter running her family’s weed empire, while her father is in prison.”
Amidst the chaos, the women of the series hold their own and arguably, run the show. There’s Scodelario’s Susie with the measured silkiness of a queen among gangsters. You have a feeling she’s going to work it all out, even when she doesn’t. Joely Richardson is here as The Matriarch, the infinitely resourceful and reliable Lady Sabrina. The production says, “Lady Sabrina cuts as aristocratic a figure as the very bricks of Halstead Manor – the country pile where she has raised her children, Eddie, Freddy and daughter Charlotte.”
Gaïa Weiss is Princess Roseanne who comes off a bit like Emma Frost—a snow queen who never lets you know whose side she’s truly on. And Jasmine Blackborow as the little sister Charlotte, is just about the only one you can trust to have a beating human heart. Outside of Scodelario, these women don’t get as much screen time as the men, but they use their time to lure us in. They are the most competent, patient characters in the series, and honestly, I don’t know how they don’t take a flamethrower to everything else.
Despite the promise that “people either survive in the jungle or exist in the zoo,” The Gentlemen doesn’t go as wild or as feral as you want it to. For all its swagger and style (and there’s a lot of it), the series lacks something I can’t define. The scofflaw shenanigans and chicanery of gangsters alongside the twists of plot that butter Ritchie’s bread is my sort of thing, but I didn’t enjoy it and I should have. The pacing works, the madness is high, and the characters are giving quirk, surprise, and violence, yet there was no pop for me. Perhaps The Gentlemen comes off as more redux than revelation. I’m not sure; it’s solid but I didn’t message any of my colleagues while watching—a signal of my lack of engagement.
But let’s give credit where it’s due. At its smartest, The Gentlemen amplifies the volatility of human nature and plays with the effect of Brexit on the drug game. For those who fancy a crime drama that doesn’t take itself too seriously, The Gentlemen could still be an entertaining and thoroughly messy diversion. It’s a sometimes luxuriantly ludicrous ride that fans of Ritchie will likely appreciate because there’s a chaotic charm about it. Ritchie and Read give the series a dynamism that keeps the series in motion.
So, in the end: The Gentlemen has a gangster cast and entertaining chicanery, but firecrackers never pop off. Still, it might work for you when you’re in the mood for a cheeky crime drama.
You can descend into the smoked-out madness of the criminal underworld for yourself,
The Gentlemen premieres globally on Netflix – March 7
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