A One Mann’s Movies review of “House of Gucci” (2021).

Bob the Movie Man Rating:

As I’m on holiday at the moment in Portugal, this was seen as “Casa de Gucci”. But the soundtrack was English with Portuguese subtitles. At least, I *think* it was English!

Love at first sight. Patrizia gets her hooks into the money at a party. (Source: UPI).

Plot Summary:

Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga) is a secretary working for her father’s haulage business when she gets her hooks into Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver), heir to 50% of the Gucci family fortune. But the ambitious Ms Reggiani is never going to be happy with just 50%.

What follows is a sprawling drama, based on real-life events, told over 25 years of wealth, power, commerce and murder.

The real black widow. Gaga as Patrizia Reggiani (Source: UPI).

Certification:

US: R. UK: 15.

Talent:

Starring: Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Al Pacino, Jared Leto, Jeremy Irons.

Directed by: Ridley Scott.

Written by: Becky Johnston and Roberto Bentivegna. Based on the book by Sara Gay Forden.

Just awesome acting from Adam Driver. Award-potential maybe? (Source: UPI).

“House of Gucci” Review:

Positives:

  • Other than the bare outlines, it’s a story I knew nothing about, so it made for interesting viewing. And who doesn’t want to see some escapist high-fashion, flashy cars and Italian high-living on the big screen?
  • Adam Driver delivers another stonking performance. He delivers the best of the accents on show and is a delight to watch whenever he’s on screen. His performance is deliciously subtle and under-played. A model for acting lessons.
  • Al Pacino, in full-on Pacino mode, is also great as Maurizio’s uncle: owner of the other half of the empire.
Showdown in the streets. Adam Driver as Maurizio, Jared Leto as Paolo and Lady Gaga as Patrizia. (Source: UPI).

Negatives:

  • The accents! Where do I begin? I felt a desperate need mid-film to order a Cornetto and go compare my car insurance online. While Driver and Pacino tend to rein it in, most of the rest of the cast assume accents approaching a bad parody of Italians. Jared Leto and Gaga are particularly guilty.
  • I appreciate that the part of the “idiot” Paolo Gucci was meant to be comedic, but Jared Leto seems to almost be in a different film entirely. There’s ‘over-the-top’ and ‘waaaaay over-the-top’.
  • I’ve seen some other reviews praising Lady Gaga… saying that it proves her performance in “A Star is Born” (a film I really didn’t enjoy) wasn’t just a “flash in the pan”. Personally, I didn’t feel it. I appreciate that the character of Patrizia is a larger-than-life one. But, although she did have some impressive scenes, for most of her performance I felt like she was obviously acting, and sometimes over-acting. The accent didn’t help.
  • The film has a banging set of tunes, no argument. But for a sprawling drama told over a few decades (the film is nearly 160 minutes long!), music should be used to anchor the movie as to which year you are currently in. Donna Summer “I Feel Love”: so it must be 1977. But the movie doesn’t consistently follow that rule. It’s the early 70’s, but suddenly George Michael’s “Faith” blares out. #Unsettling.
  • This may be my lack of concentration, but there seems to be an assertion in the film (presumably completely false) that Aldo Gucci was supporting/producing knockoff Gucci products for the mass-market: a “lucrative product line” that was later canned by Maurizio. I was personally confused by this bit of the story.
Sure, there was a great transformation for the actor. But not, IMHO, a transformation for the better. (Source: UPI).

Summary Thoughts on “House of Gucci”

This was not the <2* bust that I thought it might be from early word I saw from other reviews. The fact that it turns out to be a 158-minute film surprised me, since it felt long… but not that long. So that’s a good thing. And it has its moments for sure. But this is not a movie that I will be in a hurry to revisit, since the accents and some of the performances (Jared Leto – take one step forwards) are not ones that I thought worthy of the potential that the movie had.

For me, Mr Scott, I’ll take “The Last Duel” any day.

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Trailer for “House of Gucci”

The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGNnpVKxV6s .

By bobwp

Dr Bob Mann lives in Hampshire in the UK. Now retired from his job as an IT professional, he is owner of One Mann's Movies and an enthusiastic reviewer of movies as "Bob the Movie Man". Bob is also a regular film reviewer on BBC Radio Solent.

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