The latest spy action comedy from Guy Ritchie is WWII era set The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. Out Friday, it finds the filmmaker in familiar genre territory with a cast including Henry Cavill, Eiza González, Alan Ritchson, Henry Golding, Alex Pettyfer, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Babs Olusanmokun, and Cary Elwes.
Ritchie has been pumping out feature after feature in recent years. His war pic The Covenant drew mostly solid reviews, but zero awards attention in 2023. Warfare is generating some decent notices at 82% on Rotten Tomatoes. That includes some comparisons to Inglourious Basterds though they’re not near as effusive in praise.
This is the director’s 15th picture and only 2009’s Sherlock Holmes received any Oscar noms for Original Score and Art Direction. That stat should remain the same as Warfare isn’t expected to contend anywhere. My Oscar Prediction posts will continue…
Guy Ritchie is back in action comedy mode when The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare arrives in theaters April 19th. The WWII era pic stars Henry Cavill with supporting work from Eiza González, Alan Ritchson, Henry Golding, Alex Pettyfer, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, and Cary Elwes.
The writer/director is no stranger to the genre. On a side note, Ritchie has been a busy man as Warfare marks his sixth feature in as many years. Similarly marketed 2019’s The Gentleman opened in line with expectations at just over $10 million. On the other hand, Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre stalled with a mere $3.1 million in its start.
I suspect this may open in between two Ritchie projects in the mid single digits.
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare opening weekend prediction: $7.6 million
Hilary Swank is a double Oscar winner in Best Actress. She went 2 for 2 with 1999’s Boys Don’t Cry and 2004’s Million Dollar Baby. Fun fact: she’s probably responsible for Annette Bening not having an Academy Award as she was likely runner-up for American Beauty in ’99 and Being Julia five years later.
Bening might be up this year for Nyad, but Swank has a rare big screen starring role this weekend in Ordinary Angels. The faith-based and fact-based drama is from filmmaker Jon Gunn with a screenplay by Kelly Fremon Craig and Meg Tilly. Alan Ritchson, Nancy Travis, and Tamala Jones costar.
Reviews are actually solid with 80% on RT and several critics praising Swank’s work. That said, this is not a genre where the Academy often takes notice. While this appears to be a crowdpleaser with a 100% audience score on the Tomato site, don’t expect this to make the cut in Actress or other categories. My Oscar Prediction posts will continue…
Two-time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank headlines the inspiration true-life drama Ordinary Angels as Lionsgate hopes this baby makes several million dollars out of the gate. Jon Gunn, the filmmaker behind Do You Believe? and The Case for Christ, directs with a supporting cast including Alan Ritchson, Nancy Travis, and Tamala Jones. There are some noteworthy behind the scenes players involved with Kelly Fremon Craig (writer/director of The Edge of Seventeen and Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret) sharing script duties with actress Meg Tilly.
Angels was originally slated to touch down in theaters on October 13th last year until it (wisely) moved to make way for Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour. These faith-based offerings can manage to outperform expectations. I wouldn’t be shocked if an opening weekend in the $10 million range materialized, but my forecast puts it a bit under.
Ordinary Angels opening weekend prediction: $8 million
For my Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – To the Hashira Training prediction, click here:
Someday and hopefully soon, a comedic vehicle will come along to match the charisma and talent that Kevin Hart clearly possesses. It wasn’t Ride Along. It wasn’t Get Hard from last year. And it’s not The Wedding Ringer from two years past, which sprinkles in an occasional laugh when it’s not overdoing it by setting grandmothers on fire or extending a peanut butter/dog joke (yep…) far longer than it should.
The concept is simplistic and silly: Hart is Jimmy Callahan, who offers his services as a best man to guys who can’t find one. His latest project is a difficult one as Doug (Josh Gad) not only is without a lead guy to stand beside him – he has no groomsmen period. Doug is a big teddy bear and successful tax attorney who’s still in shock he landed a hottie (Kelly Cuoco-Sweeting) to say “I do”. Jimmy recruits a band of misfits to fill out the wedding party and assumes the identity of Bic Mitchum, a priest with military experience, for his role.
The Wedding Ringer then embarks upon a series of adventures for the twosome as they attempt to keep up their well-intentioned scheme, all in sitcom type scenarios (albeit R rated ones). Jimmy has a hard and fast rule to not actually become friends with his clients, but Doug tests it. The groom also begins to question just how much he is in love with his fiancee. Parties happen. Cliched football games with the father in law do, too. Uncomfortable family meals result in the aforementioned engulfed granny, played by Cloris Leachman. Then there’s that unfortunate peanut butter incident.
It basically comes down to this – despite a few genuinely humorous touches, most of Ringer is sophomoric, generic, and just not very funny. Despite their best efforts, both Hart and Gad deserve better, though they do share a pretty decent chemistry together. I’ll give this the distinction of being just slightly more tolerable than Hart’s Ride Along and Get Hard. That isn’t saying a lot.
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