A One Time Watch
Summary
House of Gucci is a bit of a guilty pleasure; the accents are all over the place but the themes of greed and excess are apparent throughout and Adam Driver makes any film watchable.
Plot: 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.
Review: I’ve been a huge fan of Sir Ridley Scott for many years but somehow I never got around to seeing House of Gucci before this past weekend. I’m glad I finally caught it as it’s an entertaining tale of greed, excess and ultimately murder.
While watching I couldn’t help wondering if this was meant to be a parody or not due to the ridiculous accents so the tone feels constantly off but it’s really what makes the film so enjoyable.
Jared Leto is the worst aspect of the film not even looking anything like Paolo Gucci and his accent sounds like the Italian Chef from The Simpsons. The best aspect of the film is Adam Driver who can elevate any material and his evolution from potential lawyer to head of Gucci is never less than enthralling. Lady GaGa has had a lot of criticism for her portrayal of Patrizia Reggiani but I thought she wasn’t too bad; you knew early on that she was ambitious but she also genuinely loved Maurizio and the scene where she is begging him to come home by showing him a photo album was heart wrenching and pathetic.
If Leto had been more restrained then we would have felt more empathy towards Paolo as he really got screwed over by everyone and was quite a sad character. Al Pacino plays his father Aldo and for the most part holds it all in once again playing a character who gets treated poorly by Patrizia and Maaurizio who really became monsters.
At nearly 2 hours and 40 minutes House of Gucci manages to keep you engaged maybe just because you can’t believe how over the top some of the performances are but underneath it all it’s still a tragic tale of how greed destroys you and those around you.
As it’s a Ridley film then it of course looks stunning with his dappled rays of sunlight shining through the house windows and the costumes are fantastic too. It’s never dull and I found I had to keep watching just to see what would happen next as I was unfamiliar with what occurred in real life.
Overall, House of Gucci is entertaining (possibly for the wrong reasons) and verging on the edge of parody but Adam Driver makes anything watchable and the real life tragedy of what happened to the family should keep you engaged but it’s not a film I would likely sit through again.