House of Gucci (2021)

Has its moments and is well shot but had a hard to time really getting in to this, though guess I enjoyed the chaos and backstabbing within the family. On the other hand, found the Italian accents to be laughable at times and Jared Leto was just ridiculous under that makeup (in conjunction with his accent). Not terrible and at least watchable, though could've been a tad shorter. **2.75/5**

It isn't often that I can say this, but for me the best actor by a country mile here is Jeremy Irons. He plays the aging Rodolfo, whom along with his far more flamboyant brother Aldo (Al Pacino) owns and runs the legendary Italian fashion house. His son Maurizio (Adam Driver) falls in love with Patrizia (Lady Gaga) who the daughter of a trucking company owner and needless to say his dad is less than impressed. He proceeds to cut his son off, but the younger man has fallen totally for his ambitious and savvy new gal, and soon they are married and working with his uncle. Meantime, feeling neglected, and with his nose out of joint, Aldo's ditzy son Paolo (an almost unrecognisable Jared Leto) tries to tap up his uncle Rodolfo with some of his own designs - and my favourite scene as the older man calls a spade a spade ensues! Much of the best of the rest of this has been largely leaked in the trails. Gaga is good, but not great and far too much time is spent on the character establishment. By the time we get to the serious story of how this marriage and this family and this business all turned in onto themselves, betraying and scarring as they went, the pace turns decidedly slow and the events of the story itself become really quite rushed. Way too much of the denouement is encapsulated by one scene and by on-screen text. Had less been made of the preamble, then I think Sir Ridley Scott could have made much more of the interesting and entertaining causes of the dynasty's troubles. Still, it's is enjoyable and flies by. Well worth a watch.

This movie really struggled with pacing. All the time I found myself surprised at how big the jumps in time were, even though everything is chronological. Overall I think they were working from a compelling story but just couldn't quite tell it in a way that was captivating. The film could only hold my attention for half of its length.

Full review: I’m finding it very difficult to figure out where to begin with House of Gucci. I could start where the movie started, the last morning of Maurizio Gucci’s (Adam Driver) life. Or, I could start with Lady Gaga’s bizarre Italian accent as Patrizia Reggiani. There’s also the extremely questionable prosthetics used for Jared Leto to portray Paolo Gucci. Given all of that, I’ll start with what I wanted to get out of this movie.

'House of Gucci' makes for good viewing. I enjoyed the performances of Lady Gaga and Adam Driver, with the former being the film's best in my opinion - she is two for two now after '', so I'm keen to see what she produces for ''. The rest of the cast are also very good, whether it be Al Pacino or Jeremy Irons... Jack Huston and even Jared Leto are solid as well. Well done casting. I found this 158 minute flick to have positive pacing, the film doesn't necessarily fly by but it does keep flowing along nicely. I, however, didn't like the music, there are some strange choices in there which I don't think quite fit the vibe of the film. It also felt odd a few times to have everyone speaking English with accents, especially when in Italy. I also would've liked more regular notices of location/year of certain scenes, not that it was hard to figure out but a few scenes, despite being set elsewhere/at another time, felt mashed into one sometimes. Those negatives aren't major ones, though, as I did get the required entertainment from this Ridley Scott film.

I'm glad I watched this but am slightly disappointed that there was surprisingly less action than suggested in the trailer - yes I know that could be said of every film but in this one, there wasn't any. Even the promised murder was unremarkable. However, it's well worth brushing up on the history of that handbag you're so proud of. It's worth watching but if you're interested in fashion biographies, then Coco before Chanel is better, and if you're into fashion murders, The Assassination of Gianni Versace (from Maureen Orth’s book Vulgar Favours) is more dramatic. This is worth adding to your brand history though.