It was an inspired bit of casting for writer-director Guy Ritchie to make former heartthrob Hugh Grant the weasely linchpin of his British caper flick “The Gentlemen” (2020). Ritchie brings a unique style to this type of film and Grant proves to be a worthy air traffic controller as scenes cut from one character’s perspective to another and back and forth across time. Matthew McConaughey is trying to sell his (illegal) business and he thinks he has a buyer, but cutthroat hijinks ensue. There’s bullets, blood and belly-laughs – sometimes all at once. Ritchie makes it look easier than it is.
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Hey, Frank Sinatra made World War II movies – why not Jon Bon Jovi? The younger New Jersey pop star plays a supporting role in “U-571” (2000), in which a group of American submarine sailors carry out a secret mission against the Germans. The Yanks – and the movie, for that matter – are led by untested skipper Matthew McConaughey. Not to worry, because Harvey Keitel, David Keith and Bill Paxton are there to lend ballast to the neophyte leading man. The film is boilerplate war movie stuff – ragtag bunch faces adversity, yada, yada – and (spoiler alert) we all know how WWII ends.
Matthew McConaughey’s character isn’t particularly attractive – visually or otherwise – in “Gold” (2016). Given the fact that much of McConaughey’s popularity rests in aesthetics, it’s not surprising this movie was quickly shuffled into the discount bin at Blockbuster (theoretically, I mean, after all, the movie is set in the 1980s). That’s too bad, because if you can see through the haze of Seagram’s and Marlboro, there’s a complex and interesting story (and Bryce Dallas Howard) there. Maybe too complex (the story, not Bryce). But it’s not like you’re tired of 1980s-based films about commodities dealing (“Trading Places” was a long time ago).
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