Netflix has announced a streaming release date for The Gentlemen, Guy Ritchie’s spinoff series from his film of the same name, with a series of cast posters (see the X post below) depicting so many blazers you’d think it was set in Savile Row.
The program, which will premiere on the finest streaming service on March 7, is a fresh story set in the same world as the movie, and like the original film’s plot, it’s an action comedy pitting clueless novices against seasoned tough guys.
The show centers on Theo James, played by Eddie Horniman from The White Lotus, who is the estranged son of an English aristocrat. When his father dies, he inherits the estate, unaware that it is a front for a large drug enterprise, which he quickly discovers. Despite not being a criminal, Theo must become one quickly or forfeit his entire estate.
Guy Ritchie’s action comedy: “Crime meets caviar”
Ritchie has collected an intriguing cast here, which includes Hollywood hardman Vinnie Jones, Breaking Bad’s Giancarlo Esposito, and beloved performer Joely Richardson. Of course, Ray Winstone is also in it. He portrays Bobby Glass, a career criminal whose cannabis enterprise Theo unwittingly inherits.
Although the TV show has yet to receive reviews, the 2019 film that inspired it has received generally positive feedback. The Gentlemen was critically praised as a fun crime caper that attempted but failed to create a new spin on tired gangster movie cliches. It was effectively a cheeseburger of a film: enjoyable at the time, but hardly memorable.
However, for some critics, some pieces remained in their mind – and they were not good bits. Several reviewers were unimpressed by several of the gangsters’ gags in the picture, which plainly went intended to position the film as proudly un-“politically correct” but came across as simply condoning sloppy racism, anti-Semitism, and homophobia. Both TIME magazine and Vulture believed that some of the gags left “a bitter aftertaste.”
Hopefully, the error has not been carried over to the television show. Otherwise, the consensus is that if you like this type of thing, you will enjoy it. The film didn’t exactly explore new ground, but it was entertaining, thrilling, and amusing at times. In short, it was a Guy Ritchie film that delivered exactly as expected. The television program is expected to do the same.
