THE GENTLEMEN (18)
DAMON SMITH REVIEWS THE LATEST RELEASES TO WATCH AT HOME, WITH RICHARD DREYFUSS SHOOTING FOR THE STARS IN ASTRONAUT
HHHHH ODIOUS private detective Fletcher (Hugh Grant) demands a £20m pay-off for incriminating photos of American ex-pat Mickey Pearson (Matthew Mcconaughey), who has built a lucrative marijuana empire in London aided by right-hand man Raymond (Charlie Hunnam). Mickey is poised to sell the business to slippery American counterpart Matthew Berger (Jeremy Strong), and share the spoils with his wife Rosalind (Michelle Dockery, pictured with Mcconaughey).
Unfortunately, trigger-happy rival Dry Eye (Henry Golding) intends to scupper the deal, lighting a fuse on a bloodthirsty turf war that will make lip-smacking headlines for sleazy tabloid Daily Print edited by Big Dave (Eddie Marsan).
The Gentlemen is a slickly orchestrated caper from writer-director Guy Ritchie where the dodgy geezers and expletive-laden double-dealing of Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels are enthusiastically rehashed and recycled.
■ Available from April 27 on Amazon Prime Video/bt TV Store/itunes/sky Store/talktalk TV Store and other download and streaming services, and from April 27 on Dvd/blu-ray.
IN 1977, Richard Dreyfuss followed his deserved Oscar win as Best Actor in The Goodbye Girl by making first contact with otherworldly beings in Steven Spielberg’s haunting sci-fi opus, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind.
His character, electrical powerline worker Roy Neary, memorably sculpts a UFO landing site – Devil’s Tower in Wyoming – out of mashed potato at the dinner table, leaving his beleaguered wife and tearful children in serious doubt of his sanity.
More than 40 years later, Dreyfuss shoots for the stars again in writerdirector Shelagh Mcleod’s modest directorial debut – a sweet and moving character study about a widower with a failing heart, who is gifted an outlandish chance to become the first commercial passenger in space.
With its snappy, self-explanatory title, Astronaut teasingly promises to go interstellar with its septuagenarian hero.
Alas, in the final countdown, Mcleod’s script remains resolutely earthbound and undermines some of Dreyfuss’ excellent work with uneven pacing and strained plausibility. While some narrative detours ring hollow, the New York-born leading man (now 72 years young) doesn’t strike a single false note as he nimbly navigates his character’s grief, despair and loneliness.
Any saltwater trickles down viewers’ faces – mine included – are testament to his ability to find emotional truth in the uneven writing.
Retired civil engineer Angus Stewart (Dreyfuss) shared a dream of travelling into space with his wife Rosie.
Now she is gone, finally free from the vice-like grip of dementia, all that remains is for Angus to follow the sobering advice of his physician: “Keep up the good fight, because what’s the alternative?”
Faced with crippling debts run up by Rosie, who was conned into buying a donkey sanctuary for $75,000 shortly before her death, Angus moves in with his daughter Molly (Krista Bridges), son-inlaw Jim (Lyriq Bent) and grandson Barney (Richie Lawrence).
While Jim patronises the old man and eventually nudges Angus out of the family nest into Sundown Valley Manor retirement home, whippersnapper Barney cherishes precious time with his grandfather staring up at the stars.
The tyke is delighted when Angus enters a lottery run by billionaire entrepreneur Marcus Brown (Colm Feore) to win a seat on the first commercial flight into space.
Miraculously, Angus’s name is chosen at random for a public vote of 12 finalists.
Fellow retirement home residents Alice (Jennifer Phipps), Frannie (Joan Gregson), Joe (Art Hindle) and Len (Graham Greene) help Angus to prepare for his on-camera interview.
Astronaut is a showcase for Dreyfuss’ twinkly-eyed charm and he repeatedly delivers, including some touching scenes with young co-star Lawrence.
Bridges and Bent are solid in undernourished supporting roles.
The machinations of the final 30 minutes feel forced and Mcleod clearly doesn’t have the technical wizardry at her disposal to blast us off into dizzying orbit. ■ Released on April 27 (streaming and available to download from Amazon Prime Video, BT TV Store, Google Play, itunes, Rakuten, Sky Store, Talktalk TV Store, Virgin Media).