House of Gucci

Such a shame about 2021's HOUSE OF GUCCI.   We finally get a high profile studio picture for grown-ups in the midst of a sea of movies aimed at the juvenile mindset and it's an embarrassing mess.  An opportunity so thoroughly squandered it's almost impressive in some regard.   I'm beginning to wonder if director Ridley Scott is losing his sensibilities.  The creative force behind such a diverse filmography as ALIEN, MATCHSTICK MEN, BLADE RUNNER, and THELMA & LOUISE has been littering theaters with inexplicable duds like PROMETHEUS and THE COUNSELOR over the past decade.  His passion for bringing the story of the Gucci family/dynasty was longstanding and fraught with the usual Tinseltown delays, but the wait was not worth it this time.   I would say this is true whether one was expecting a dramatically rich epic or a campy burlesque; it really fails on both (and many other) levels.

Casting of course was crucial, and at least the selections were right on.  Lady Gaga plays Patrizia Reggiani, the gold digging nobody who sinks her claws into a reserved law student named Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver).  The actors take different approaches - Gaga goes a bit over the top with an uncertain Italian brogue; Driver underplays enough to arouse suspicion that he was heavily medicated.  Al Pacino vamps it up as Aldo Gucci, Maurizio's uncle.  Jared Leto turns in a near legendarily caricatured performance as Aldo's son Paolo.  In moments, it's so outrageous and worthy of head scratching that you wonder if Leto wandered over from another soundstage, perhaps from a superhero movie for which he played some villain.  Jeremy Irons proves the world's least convincing Italian as Rodolfo Gucci, father of Maurizio.   Salma Hayek is amusing as Pina, the kind of psychic who does infomercials and becomes a sounding board for and eventual co-conspirator with Patrizia.

HOUSE OF GUCCI follows Patrizia and Maurizio's courtship and marriage.  Maurizio's estrangement then reconciliation with his father.  Patrizia's Lady Macbeth-like machinations behind the scenes, namely with/against Paolo, an easily hoodwinked dolt with questionable artistic talent and no business sense.  Maurizio's reluctant assuming of CEO; he will also be revealed to be less than savvy in the marketplace.   An eventual murder. 

Becky Johnston and Roberto Bentivegna based their screenplay on Sara Gay Forden's novel The House of Gucci:A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed.  All of that is here, and such a title would suggest a possible guilty pleasure.  Can't speak for the book, but the movie doesn't even live down to expectations.  Scott slams the story forward crudely, abruptly jumping through and over critical events.  Claire Simpson's editing is positively frustrating.  A worse sin is how boring this 2 and 1/2 hour plus film is.  There is precious little memorable dialogue and whenever Pacino and Leto are absent the film just becomes merely a tired soap opera, though without the sex (barring one early, randy scene between Patrizia and Maurizio that hilariously cuts from there right to their wedding day).

The use of pop songs is really awkward and careless.  Especially George Michael's "Faith."   Harry Gregson-Williams' score is appropriately spare and barely noticed.  Dariusz Wolski's photography is pretty.

HOUSE OF GUCCI leaves out many details and ignores several family members, rendering this story better suited to a mini-series.  This tale probably would've worked as a glossy made-for-cable affair, seeing as a theatrical feature it doesn't even come up to the level of say, THE BETSY.