Movie review
January 1, 2020 · 113 min · R
Woke Score
Lower is better
Review
The Gentlemen is a 2020 Guy Ritchie crime comedy about American expat Mickey Pearson, who builds a vast marijuana empire in London by growing product on the estates of cash-strapped British aristocrats and then tries to sell it, triggering blackmail, rival gangs, and violent schemes. The story is told with stylish narration from a sleazy journalist and features double-crosses among Triad members, Russian oligarchs, and street criminals. The film shows no audience-visible woke elements, identity politics, social-justice messaging, or activist framing in its plot, dialogue, or themes.
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for The Gentlemen.
Woke representation / casting
Casting fits the gritty, multicultural London criminal underworld (e.g., Henry Golding as a Triad gangster) without forced diversity, identity signaling, or mismatches to the story world.
Woke political dialogue
Dialogue stays on crime schemes, blackmail, and crude banter with zero political, ideological, or activist content.
Identity-driven story themes
The narrative is a traditional gangster caper about empire-building, betrayal, and class pragmatism with no identity politics or social-justice arcs.
Western institutional / cultural critique
Light, non-ideological nods to cash-strapped aristocrats partnering with criminals for money appear as practical business, not modern activist attacks on capitalism, patriarchy, or Western institutions.
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant; this is an original story with no source material or historical reinterpretations.
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
No such complaints exist; criticism came almost entirely from progressive reviewers objecting to the film's casual racism, homophobia, and old-school politically incorrect humor.
Creator track record context
Guy Ritchie has long avoided politics and called himself a creative, non-political person; Matthew McConaughey has backed some gun-control measures but publicly criticizes extreme left positions and pushes centrism; remaining writers and producers show no activist patterns.
Production
