House of Gucci is one of the sillier movies of 2021. Taken from true events of the Gucci family, with some obvious embellishment for effect by screenwriters Becky Johnston and Roberto Bentivegna, it struggles when it needs its more dramatic moments to hit home. With a tone more to parody winking at the camera, and characters who feel ratcheted up to 11, we're left with an amusing, but largely empty, experience.
The film follows the ups and downs of Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga) and Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver) after their marriage. We witness how their relationship changes both of them as the reluctant member of the Gucci family is drawn back into the family business. If there's a point to director Ridley Scott's film it might be that despite their troubles and the eventual misery they caused each other, Patrizia and Maurizio appear to have been made for each other.
With a light and breezy tone that constantly contradicts the darkly pessimistic view of humanity in general, and the Gucci family specifically, House of Gucci is a mixed bag. The film has gotten the most attention for its performances, primarily that Lady Gaga as the outsider who marries into the Gucci family and starts a series of dominos falling which will end in betrayal, murder, and prison, and Jared Leto in another over-the-top performance as the ridiculous Paolo Gucci who may or may not have walked right off an Adam Sandler film onto the set of this movie.
While not intended as an outright parody, it's impossible to take what happens to any of these characters seriously, which makes it hard to champion anyone's performance. However, despite it's flaws (or perhaps because of them), House of Gucci isn't easily forgettable making it a marginal recommendation for its sort of National Enquirer guilty pleasure aesthetic that can be taken as trashy fun by the right audience.
- Title: House of Gucci
- IMDb: link
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