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House of Gucci Movie Review

House of Gucci is a 2021 biographical crime drama film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Lady Gaga and Adam Driver. It’s an irresistibly entertaining movie.

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“Quality is remembered long after price is forgotten“

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When Patrizia Reggiani, an outsider from humble beginnings, marries into the Gucci family, her unbridled ambition begins to unravel the family legacy and triggers a reckless spiral of betrayal, decadence, revenge and ultimately murder. I hadn’t known anything about the Gucci family before seeing this movie, which made for such a fun viewing experience. The fact that most of this movie actually happened is wild to me and it only goes to show that true life is crazier than fiction. They should have adapted this terrific story a long time ago.

My issues with the movie are its tonal and acting inconsistencies, but those still did not prevent me from thoroughly enjoying it. The tone is all over the place as the film is indecisive whether or not it should be straight crime drama or a campy soap opera. It tries to do both and it is successful in both areas, but it would have been stronger had it been more deft.

But the movie is still so well edited and paced, stupendously so given its excessive runtime. It is over two and half hours long and I never felt that runtime while watching it as it was so incredibly fun from beginning to end. It features a bunch of great turns, memorable sequences and fun confrontations. This family was ridiculously incompetent and just so crazy and watching them spiral to their imminent doom was deliciously amusing.

Lady Gaga was snubbed by the Academy, there is no question about it. She was nominated for ‘A Star Is Born’, but she is actually much better and more memorable here. I was honestly taken aback at how talented she is and she was particularly adept at depicting Patrizia’s madness and power-hungry ambition. All the scenes between the spouses were electrifying.

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Another standout is Adam Driver in another stellar turn. He had an outstanding year between this and another Scott movie ‘The Last Duel’. His performance is the subtlest and most grounded and he killed it once again. Al Pacino is also solid, though far from his most memorable roles. Jeremy Irons is also good in a minor role from the first act. Salma Hayek was quite fun in one of the sillier roles.

All of these actors did a very good job, but admittedly they were all different from each other as if they’re all belonging to a different movie. They aren’t synced and that blame should be put on the director, Ridley Scott himself. He should have known better than let them all do their own shtick. The biggest hurdle stemming from that choice is Jared Leto. Wow, was he annoying or what? This is by far the worst acting performance that I’ve seen all year. He sounded like Mario with his ridiculously over-the-top Italian accent and overly loud speaking and extreme enunciations. And he seemed like a comic relief, but not a successful one.

But he looked incredible. I was blown away by how believable they made him out to be with the prosthetics, leading to me realizing it much later in the movie. House of Gucci has impressive costumes, incredible make-up and gorgeous sets that were filmed on-location. It is a movie about fashion after all, so it was important that it looked the part and it does. I just wish that Scott’s directing was better and that the movie’s tone was more decisive.

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It is crazy to me that they hadn’t filmed a movie about the Gucci family before. If ever there was a story suited for the medium of film, it was this one. Just watching this ridiculously inept, horrible family spiral toward imminent doom was wildly entertaining, making House of Gucci one of the most fun and most underrated movies of the year. Adam Driver is terrific in a truly outstanding year for him while Lady Gaga stole the show with an excellent performance that was snubbed by the Academy. The film’s costumes, sets and especially make-up were incredible with the prosthetics work being truly inspired. There are only two issues here. One is the indecisive tone that was dramatic most of the time, but also comedic and borderline campy at other times. The other issue is Scott’s directing or lack thereof as he basically let all of these actors do their own shtick without guidance, which led to that truly atrocious performance from Jared Leto. All of the Italian accents were silly here, but his was particularly terrible as he sounded like a cartoon character or Mario himself. It’s hilarious just how bad he was here.

My Rating – 4