House of Gucci Movie Review: Lady Gaga shines bright in an unengaging film

Ridley Scott’s film boasts a huge list of performers who power through their performances, but the predictable screenplay doesn’t help them much

Bhuvanesh Chandar

(Originally published on 26th November 2021)

House of Gucci begins with a shot of a gun-wielding man approaching a lead character. Before we understand what happens, the screenplay shifts to a few years prior. You know right off the bat that this story will lead up to this ill-fated opening moment. Considering that this Ridley Scott film is based on the real-life story about the decorated family behind the popular Italian fashion brand Gucci, the script is intended to also cater to those people who, like myself, aren’t exactly familiar with the Gucci story. “I want to see how this story goes,” as a character says. However, the said story is rather charmless and unsurprising.

Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga), a 20-something woman from a middle-class Italian family has her eyes set on Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver), the heir to his father, Rodolfo Gucci’s (Jeremy Irons) fashion empire. Love blooms, but Rudolfo is apprehensive of Patrizia’s intentions. An argument ensues between father and son, and Maurizio leaves everything behind for lady love. They get married, and we now learn that Rodolfo may not be wrong about his opinion on Patrizia. She pushes her husband to meet his uncle Aldo Gucci (Al Pacino), to dethrone Rudolfo. A tale of love, deceit and feud begins.

After Aldo’s entrance, the film turns into an Al Pacino show for a while. The veteran makes you really feel for his character and his downfalls. He makes you laugh too, even if he isn’t the comic relief in this film. That job is assigned to Jared Leto, who plays Paolo Gucci, Aldo’s wastrel son who double-crosses his father, and shows a taste for unusual dialogue in unusual circumstances. When he ends up losing everything and, in the process, sends his father to prison, Paolo, in his heavy Italian accent, quips, “Never confuse s*** with choco-lato. They look the same, but they taste very different.”

Every character in the film seems intriguing on paper, even if not on screen. The men in the film, Aldo in particular, break their composure in seconds. They have fragile egos, and it just takes one dialogue to change them from pleasant men to threatening characters. A great addition to the story is the character of……

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https://www.cinemaexpress.com/english/review/2021/nov/26/house-of-gucci-movie-review-lady-gaga-shines-bright-in-an-unengaging-film-28056.html