James Delingpole James Delingpole

Fans of torture, dolly birds and fat lines of cocaine will love The Gentlemen

Plus: a strangely addictive new reality TV show on E4

Theo James (Eddie Horniman), Josh Finan (Jethro) and Vinnie Jones (Geoff Seacombe) in Guy Ritchie's The Gentlemen. Image: Christopher Rafael / Netflix 
issue 30 March 2024

Guy Ritchie only does one thing but he does it very well: slick, violent, sweary, black comedy capers about the unlikely intersection between toffs and the criminal underworld, invariably starring ex-footballer Vinnie Jones as a loveable tweed-wearing thug. If you were hoping for something different from The Gentlemen, prepare to be disappointed.

If, on the other hand, you can never quite get enough of shotguns, stately homes, frantically crowbarred-in but still-quite-amusing one liners, rival gangsters, vast quantities of claret (in both vinous and sanguinary forms), torture, dolly birds, travellers, slightly annoying solecisms, fights, gambling and fat lines of cocaine, then this will be your cup of tea, guvnor, and no mistake, innit, what ho, old chap.

The experiment would be more interesting if it weren’t so obviously rigged

Vinnie Jones stars – no, I jest, it’s not that bad: he just plays the rough-diamond factotum who runs the estate and will no doubt be getting his boss out of all manner of scrapes like Jeeves with knuckledusters.

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