Taste is, of course, a unique thing. As I write this review "House of Gucci" has a score of 6.9 which is baffling to me, as the film I sat through last Saturday was an unmitigated disaster. One that's story is too boring to even allow you to enjoy the hilariously bad performances.
Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga) meets Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver) at a party. Maurizio is the son of Rodolfo Gucci (Jeremy Irons) who owns 50% of the family named fashion chain. Initially training to be a lawyer, Patrizia, along with his uncle Aldo, (Al Pacino) encourages Maurizio to join the family business. Very quickly, lines of division are drawn, and alliances and double crosses push Maurizio to the head of the company.
I am not the first person to come here and make fun of some of the performances. Adam Driver and Lady Gaga can leave with their reputations relatively unscathed, even if perhaps Gaga hones an accent that's a bit more Transylvanian than Milanese. Al Pacino and Jared Leto though are in a different film, with broad comedic performances that make the Dolmio adverts look like Mike Leigh in comparison.
I could, perhaps, forgive their choices if the overall film hung together better, but alas it doesn't. The story is glacial at some points, but at others either skips over or brushes through sections that are required to make the story make sense. Why do the police come after Maurizio as quickly as they do? How does the information about Aldo's taxes make it to the American authorities? What does Maurizio actually do, once he's taken control? Why does he abandon his wife and child after one brief argument? The story needs Patrizia to be Lady Macbeth, subtly twisting and cajoling her unwilling husband to power, before he turns on her and she extracts revenge. Instead though, Maurizio's whole personality changes in a moment, without that much justification, and he moves on without her. Also, I never really had the right feel for how much time has passed between scenes, and I'm not helped by the score, which seems to use anachronistic songs, but at others tries to evoke the period.
In lesser hands, this might be more forgivable, but this is Ridley Scott and we've come to expect more. This was, in no uncertain terms, a shambles.
Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga) meets Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver) at a party. Maurizio is the son of Rodolfo Gucci (Jeremy Irons) who owns 50% of the family named fashion chain. Initially training to be a lawyer, Patrizia, along with his uncle Aldo, (Al Pacino) encourages Maurizio to join the family business. Very quickly, lines of division are drawn, and alliances and double crosses push Maurizio to the head of the company.
I am not the first person to come here and make fun of some of the performances. Adam Driver and Lady Gaga can leave with their reputations relatively unscathed, even if perhaps Gaga hones an accent that's a bit more Transylvanian than Milanese. Al Pacino and Jared Leto though are in a different film, with broad comedic performances that make the Dolmio adverts look like Mike Leigh in comparison.
I could, perhaps, forgive their choices if the overall film hung together better, but alas it doesn't. The story is glacial at some points, but at others either skips over or brushes through sections that are required to make the story make sense. Why do the police come after Maurizio as quickly as they do? How does the information about Aldo's taxes make it to the American authorities? What does Maurizio actually do, once he's taken control? Why does he abandon his wife and child after one brief argument? The story needs Patrizia to be Lady Macbeth, subtly twisting and cajoling her unwilling husband to power, before he turns on her and she extracts revenge. Instead though, Maurizio's whole personality changes in a moment, without that much justification, and he moves on without her. Also, I never really had the right feel for how much time has passed between scenes, and I'm not helped by the score, which seems to use anachronistic songs, but at others tries to evoke the period.
In lesser hands, this might be more forgivable, but this is Ridley Scott and we've come to expect more. This was, in no uncertain terms, a shambles.