Summary
A total mess of a movie that descends into pantomime and manages to turn the sexy world of fashion into a snooze fest.
It may sound like a cliche, but they should have got the team that made the trailer to edit House of Gucci.
After seeing the trailer, and I have no interest in the fashion industry, I thought this might be a fun film to see with Mrs. Reviewer on a Friday night. So we trundled off to our local Odeon and settled in for a film that promised glitz, glamour, sex, and violence, wrapped in a true story based around the fabled House Of Gucci.
Instead, what is thrown up on screen, is a garbled 158 minutes of over-the-top performances, terrible editing, with a rambling story, poor music choices, and most unforgivable, drab and dreary sets and costumes.
Why does a film set in the world of iconic style look like it was directed by someone who has no knowledge of the industry the world revolves around? Ridley Scott is a fantastic filmmaker, but this is just a misstep for him, and so soon after The Last Duel too.
Lady Gaga and Adam Driver turn in solid performances, but as things ramp up, they start to become caricatures of themselves, and by the third act, they have almost turned 360 degrees, and without much motivation either.
Story-wise, Driver is Mauritzio Gucci who is seduced by the ambitious Lady Gaga, playing the ultimately murderous Patrizia Reggiani, and after their marriage, she manipulates Mauritzio into a more hands-on player in the House Of Gucci. Cue the double-dealings and dangerous liaisons that lead to the climax of the movie.
Based on a book, based on the real-life events, and with an ending you already know, we follow the events that lead to the shocking conclusion, so there’s really no surprise for the audience, so all you really have to grab onto are the performances.
And that leads us to Jared Leto.
Leto plays Paolo Gucci, overlooked by the rest of the family and ridiculed for his terrible design work, Leto is in full prosthetic makeup and using it to hide behind. His over-the-top portrayal of the character is difficult to watch. It is a pantomime rendition that makes Leto look like he is desperate to steal every scene but instead comes off as embarrassing and disrespectful. With actors like Pacino and Irons on call, he becomes nothing more than light relief, providing comedy cameos in scenes like a cheap sitcom, and he dials everything up to 11. Compared with an understated Adam Driver, this tonal shift is just another way House of Gucci becomes impossible to enjoy.
At the heart of the story is a true tale of murder, yet there is never any sense of real danger from the production. Instead, there are scenes designed to make us laugh, I think, and there is never any success in making us feel anything for these people.
I was so uninvested, that I didn’t care what happened to them, and in a film that is based in reality, that is an incredible thing to achieve.
There is an interesting and intriguing story behind the Gucci empire, but the shifts in tone, certain performances, and a rambling script make this a complete chore to sit through. A major motion picture set in the fashion world with an iconic cast should have been, at the very least, stylish and alluring. Instead, it’s a lacklustre and boring depiction of a sordid tale.
