The Gentlemen is a 2019 action thriller film written, directed and produced by Guy Ritchie, who developed the story along with Ivan Atkinson and Marn Davies.

The film stars Matthew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnam, Henry Golding, Michelle Dockery, Jeremy Strong, Eddie Marsan, Colin Farrell, and Hugh Grant.

[6][7] Born into poverty in the U.S., Michael "Mickey" Pearson wins a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford, where he begins selling marijuana before dropping out and becoming a narcotics baron, building a criminal empire in blood and growing cannabis in labs under the estates of aristocratic landlords who need cash for the upkeep of their stately homes; one such landlord is Lord Pressfield, a duke whose heroin-addicted daughter, Laura, lives in a council estate with other addicts.

The aforementioned lab is raided by amateur MMA fighters and aspiring YouTubers "The Toddlers", who overpower the guards, steal marijuana, and upload a rap video of their caper online.

Pearson begins transferring his cannabis plants out of the estates as a precaution, while The Toddlers' horrified trainer "Coach" orders them to delete the video.

Raymond orders The Toddlers to capture Big Dave; they drug him and film him having sex with a pig, threatening to post it online unless he drops his investigation and publishes nothing.

[10] In October, Matthew McConaughey, Kate Beckinsale, Henry Golding and Hugh Grant were cast,[11][12] with Jeremy Strong, Jason Wong and Colin Farrell joining in November.

[3][4] In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside The Turning, and was projected to gross around $10 million from 2,100 theaters in its opening weekend.

The website's critics consensus reads, "It may not win writer-director Guy Ritchie many new converts, but for those already attuned to the filmmaker's brash wavelength, The Gentlemen stands tall.

"'[33] Gary M. Kramer, writing for Salon, said "Ritchie thinks casual racism is funny, and the film's Asian characters are all called the derogatory c-word: 'Chinamen.'

"[34] Three years after the film's release, Ritchie was sued by the actor Mickey De Hara (who had played Turbo in Richie's prior film RocknRolla) for copying the "cast of characters, their characterization and 'unique aspects of the plot'" from a screenplay De Hara had offered Ritchie as a sequel to RocknRolla.

De Hara claimed that when he had tried to address the issue out of court, Ritchie responded, "Mickey, I and my people have tried to contact you for some years now.

De Hara claimed that the most blatant instance of copying was a scene involving the character Coach and "The Toddlers" gang he leads, which was an almost exact match to a scene from De Hara's screenplay with a character Coach leading a group of thugs nicknamed "The Baby Squad.

Ritchie was set to direct the first two episodes and serve as executive producer alongside Ivan Atkinson, Marn Davies, and Bill Block.

[38][39] The Gentleman stars Theo James, alongside Vinnie Jones, Kaya Scodelario, Giancarlo Esposito, Daniel Ings, Joely Richardson, Peter Serafinowicz,[6][7] Alexis Rodney,[40] Chanel Cresswell[41] and Max Beesley.