Directed by: Ridley Scott
Starring: Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Jared Leto, Jeremy Irons, Salma Hayek, Al Pacino
Distributed by: United Artists Releasing
Running time: 157 minutes
Our Score: 3 out of 5 stars
At the ripe age of 83, Ridley Scott has delivered us with *two* star-studded dramas this fall alone. For every The Counselor the man has made, he is undeniably the gift that keeps on giving with big budget, adult dramas. And House of Gucci is no exception to that pitch – from Lady Gaga to Jeremy Irons to Adam Driver to Al Pacino and even Jared Leto, the film has an absolutely stacked cast. The film follows Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga) as she marries Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver) and into the Gucci family name. From the get-go, the marriage is full of drama, resentment, and disapproval from all corners of the Gucci family and business. This ultimately leads to a lot of betrayal and revenge as the family and dynasty collapses upon itself.
I went into House of Gucci with pretty high expectations. Despite Scott cranking out some duds over the last few years, The Martian and The Last Duel both gave me some hope for his work moving forward as they were immensely solid dramas. However, despite the film featuring an absolutely incredible cast and a lot of potential for meaty, hard-hitting drama – it mostly results to lightly entertaining, campy story-telling. It’s not to say that House of Gucci is necessarily a bad film, because it isn’t. It just feels like it has so many opportunities to be better than it is at nearly every turn, and it succumbs to being “decent and entertaining enough” for a majority of its running time.
One thing that I can’t fault the film for are the performances. Despite the story and script not coming together as much as I feel like it should have, the entire cast really comes to play here. Just like she did in 2018’s A Star is Born, Lady Gaga absolutely steals the show here with a harrowing and viciously entertaining performance that rides the line of just being sympathetic enough before it excuses what her character does. Adam Driver, Al Pacino, and Jeremy Irons also all do really solid work here as well, and work even better when they’re acting alongside one another. The only performance I’m a bit mixed on is Jared Leto, who is under some HEAVY makeup and prosthetics. There were points where I laughed at his performance and found it to be effectively amusing in a way that feels intentional. However, I feel like the film too often tries to make you feel for the character while at the same time it makes him out to be an absolute imbecile to say the least. I’m curious if a rewatch changes this for me.
Another complaint I have is that the film runs on a hefty 158 minute running time. Running times usually aren’t an issue for me if the film justifies the length with proper storytelling, but House of Gucci feels ridiculously overlong even by the halfway point. Even with that being said, the film gets by on having a superb cast that elevate the material and Ridley Scott does a decent job at making it entertaining. The story just feels a bit unfocused and there is really no urgency to the plot progression. It’s fine in the moment, but I can’t help but feel a bit disappointed in how it feels like it could’ve been better.
