THE GENTLEMEN

Matthew McConaughey    Charlie Hunnam    Michelle Dockery     Hugh Grant

Jeremy Strong     Colin Farrell     Henry Golding     Eddie Marsan

     It takes intelligence and wit to create a drama that successfully mixes satire with extreme violence a la Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Inglorious Bastards, and Pulp Fiction), and Guy Ritchie has done it here in giving us an entertaining spoof on the underworld of crime.  The characters must be colorful, are sometimes admirable, but do outrageous things and--most important—the script is key in smartly pulling it all together.  Ritchie, with co-writers Ivan Atkinson and Marn Davies, has woven together a complicated plot that fits together like a jigsaw puzzle.  It requires the viewer to pay attention and keep in mind intricate connections and multiple plots.

     The center of the action is legendary Mickey Pearson (McConaughey), who has established a multi-million dollar business in drugs, with the key element being that his operations are all top secret. His astute second, Ray (Hunnam), is entirely trustworthy and runs interference for him.  Mickey is devoted to his gorgeous wife Rosalind (Dockery), who has her own automobile business on the side.  All is humming along smoothly until word gets around that Mickey is ready to retire and pursue the good life.

     Enter sleazy Fletcher (Grant), a reporter who has been sent by his publisher (Big Dave) to take Mickey down by blackmailing him.  How he is trying to accomplish his assignment constitutes the major action of the story, which involves one of Mickey’s upper-class peers, Matthew (Strong); “Coach” (Farrell), a petty criminal trying to rehabilitate young bad boys; and numerous henchmen with brute strength on all sides.  This is a “guys’” movie in which all the main characters have brawn and lightning-quick reaction times, except for a few of the bad guys, who are shown to be quite puny.

     Casting is a strong asset, with cool McConaughey playing the good bad-guy, Hunnam being the canny one who must figure it all out, Grant being the smarty-pants who thinks he has it all figured out, and Farrell in a gem of a character role in which he is a little like the McConaughey figure—good and bad rolled up into one.  Michelle Dockery goes completely against her Downton Abbey persona to be a smart woman who has come up from the sticks with a Cockney accent.  Maybe I’ve been too swayed by HBO’s “Succession” drama, but Jeremy Strong—for all his good acting skills—just doesn’t seem quite believable as the evil Matthew.  Other supporting actors like Henry Golding and Eddie Marsan are excellent.

     Although the film is meant to be an entertaining spoof about different kinds of bad guys in the crime world, it does make some canny observations. One is that it goes against the common assumptions that upper class implies honesty and uprightness, while crime is more prevalent among the lower classes.  Ritchie mixes them all up in this drama.  Another point illustrated is that all drugs are not the same; some really do destroy lives and families, and other normally benign drugs can be contaminated.  Still another is that honor (and dishonor) can be found among all kinds of humans and their endeavors, and that even hideous violence can sometimes be supremely satisfying.

     BTW, I was especially gratified that there are no car chases in this action movie. Vehicles are used in various ways, and there are car accidents, but the generally obligatory car chase in most action movies is nowhere to be seen (satisfied “sigh!”).

This is an entertaining action movie with plenty of brawn, but one in which different wits are pitted against each other in a cat-and-mouse game.

Grade:  B                                    By Donna R. Copeland

A SIMPLE FAVOR

Anna Kendrick     Blake Lively     Henry Golding

Ian Ho     Joshua Satine     Jean Smart     Rupert Friend

     Ah yes, a simple favor indeed.  This comedic drama is fun to watch with all the baits and switches leading down one path and then another and with plenty of comedy that stays just short of slapstick.  The entertaining novel by Darcy Bell, on which Jessica Sharzer has based her screenplay, has been translated to the screen by the multi-talented director Paul Feig. It maintains the Gone Girl type of intrigue and suspense about a missing woman, with crafty plotting that keeps the viewer rapt in trying to figure out what is what and who is who.  

     But most ingenious is the casting of Anna Kendrick to be the naïve do-gooder/housewife-vlogger who ends up also being an astute detective and sly manipulator. We knew Kendrick could be funny, as in Drinking Buddies, and could show dramatic flair, as in Up in the Air; but her skill here in being an endearing figure you initially smile at but one who will eventually be a sharp-witted, rational plotter, and sexy is truly impressive.  Blake Lively is very much a counterpart foil playing the attractive, cold, bad girl who feels free to say and do anything she pleases.  When the two are onscreen together, sparks fly—sometimes in attraction, sometimes in competition. Clearly, the two actors are having fun with their acting skills in every scene.

     The story begins in a grade school setting with Stephanie (Kendrick) being the stereotypical mom who is known for her cooking, crafts, and enthusiastic volunteering and, by the way, has her own vlog in which she cooks and throws out helpful hints and other thoughts about—anything.  When her son Miles (Satine) makes friends with Nicky (Ho), she and Nicky’s mother Emily (Lively) are drawn together, Stephanie to Emily’s worldliness (no rules, no “I’m sorry”s) and Emily to Stephanie’s innocence (“You’re so nice I don’t know how you’ve survived this long”).  As you would expect, Stephanie’s son is polite and well behaved, whereas Nicky is volatile and freely uses the f-word. Ian Ho’s acting-out role allows him to show his theatrical talent, which he does very convincingly.

     The relationship between the two women is fascinating throughout in its mixture of mutual awe, admiration, wonderment, and daring.  This is the aspect of the film I appreciated the most. Both women represent the typical American woman with many layers and dimensionality in their personalities.  With his keen understanding of women, this drama is a perfect one for Paul Feig to direct.  We immediately recognize Stephanie, but we need background information about Emily to develop even a modicum of sympathy—and respect—for her. We get that with the well conceived script and story line.

     A Simple Favor keeps going on and on until it becomes absurd toward the end, but it doesn’t lose any of its entertainment value even so.

 A movie with laughs, intrigue, and thrills that will make you chuckle afterwards, even while you shake your head.

Grade:  B+                                    By Donna R. Copeland

CRAZY RICH ASIANS

Constance Wu     Michelle Yeoh     Ken Jeong     Henry Golding    

 Gemma Chan     Harry Shum, Jr.     Awkwafina     Sonoya Mizuno

     The story begins in New York in 1995, showing the Young family arriving at a hotel, expecting their reservation for a suite to be honored, but the dismissive clerk and his supervisor unsympathetically turn them away, until they are informed exactly who the Young family is:  the wealthiest family in Singapore who has bought the hotel!  This sets the stage for a depiction of friction and animosity among social classes, probably in all countries.

     Cut to New York in 2018, when one of the children in tow that trying night is now grown up. Nick Young (Golding), who has become a professor at NUY, is courting a fellow professor of Chinese descent, Rachel Chu (Wu), and inviting her to go to Singapore with him when he is best man at his friend’s wedding. And, by the way, she can meet his family.  Now, he is so overjoyed about not being “recognized” by Rachel (he has hated the “fame” his family enjoys, so has decided not to clue her in on his family’s cushy situation).

     Rachel gets a brief introduction to his background when they are given first class seats on the plane over, and he has to explain that the family business gets complimentary treatment.  She puzzles about this, but brushes it out of her mind.  She is in for a big surprise.

     As she is introduced to more and more relatives and arrives at stunning mansions, its overwhelming, but she soldiers on, partly with the help of her old college friend, Goh Paik Lin (hilariously played by Awkwafina), whom she finds lives in her own mansion, although not of the grandeur of the Youngs’.  Lin helps her dress more appropriately and provides moral support throughout Rachel’s stay.

     What we’re treated to next is the lavish lifestyle of rich Singaporeans, with abundance and excess everywhere.  It’s ironic that some of the natives are dismissive of Americans’ materialism, when what we see in many of the characters is even more exaggerated. Imagine a “rare Cambodian bong” to call people to dinner, emerald earrings costing over a million dollars, groom’s and bride’s parties at exotic islands, and a wedding that cost $40 million (scandalous, when no one should spend over $20 million!).  

     Well, to most of us, it will be an enjoyable fantasy to “live” for a while in this setting.  But, indeed, all is not happy in fantasyland.  Some must deal with marital infidelity, Rachel will encounter livid jealousy (expressed in an atrocious gift on her pillow), her boyfriend’s mother will be piercingly cruel, and she will be forced to reconsider what she is getting herself into.

     Crazy Rich Asians, directed by Jon M. Chu, succeeds in what it set out to do—entertain and, perhaps, enlighten us on the issues encountered by people of mixed heritage and class, which is especially graphically presented when Rachel herself is given information about her past that she never knew about.  The actors capture their roles perfectly, the music by Brian Tyler lyrically supports the action, and there are enough soulful moments to elevate the film above simple entertainment.

A crowd pleaser that just may be eligible for the Academy Awards’ new category, “Best Popular Movie.”

Grade:  B+                                    By Donna R. Copeland