It’s the second Ridley Scott movie of the year. First, we have The Last Duel, and now we have House of Gucci, and coincidentally, both star Adam Driver. Should you be watching this?
House of Gucci Review
When Patrizia Reggiani, an outsider from humble beginnings, marries into the Gucci family, her unbridled ambition begins to unravel their legacy and triggers a reckless spiral of betrayal, decadence, revenge, and ultimately…murder.
This is based on true events, and it stars Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Al Pacino, Jared Leto, Jeremy Irons, and Salma Hayek.
I really enjoyed Lady Gaga in this. She plays Patrizia Reggiani, a young woman who meets drivers  Maurizio Gucci at a party. And I love how transparent she is to the audience with her true feelings.
You can see this light click on and the instant that she hears the name Gucci, and we know instantly from there that she’s going to pursue him with everything she’s got.
Gaga plays the greedy and manipulative character very convincingly, but she’s not always slimy or despicable. There are a ton of moments where she is sympathetic and we feel for her, almost forgetting how she got to her position.
We can’t forget for too long because she’s driven for success, and Gaga is able to play all of the sides very convincingly. And I enjoyed watching her on the screen, even if I didn’t always like her character.
Adam Driver is wonderful. I mean, from the very start, he’s stammering uncertain, and even timid, but he’s not a static character. I love that we get to watch him transition to somebody who’s determined and decisive, even if he’s very impulsive at times.
And something that I appreciated about Ridley Scott’s last movie, The Last Duel, was that the actors didn’t try to do accents because when accents aren’t nailed, it can become very distracting or even comical, breaking us out of the experience of the story.
Scott didn’t adhere to that same practice in this, and so as a result, the accents are uneven and wonky. Lady Gaga fluctuates between convincing and laughable, and the same goes for Drivers.
He has a combo of Italian and German, which does make sense for his character, considering those were his parent’s heritage, but it never fully landed on a solid accent wavering in between the two, depending on the scene. And then there’s Jared Leto.
Now I don’t know enough Italian people to know if his accent was legit, but how it came across to me is the stereotypical way an American would portray an Italian Speaker.
If it’s accurate, that’s wonderful, but otherwise, I think it could be pretty insulting. And speaking of Jared Leto, this dude was completely unrecognizable in his role.
I mean, he fully disappeared into the role as Driver’s cousin and Pacino’s son, and some of that is thanks to the makeup. But even with that, I knew it was him, and I struggled the entire time to find the actor behind that makeup.
I loved his portrayal and how he crafted this hurt, ignored, and even discarded member of the Gucci family.
And there are so many times where I felt sorry for him despite his bravado because the way that he is treated is just heartbreaking.
Now when we see Al Pacino, he’s basically just playing Al Pacino in this. I’m not saying he’s bad by any measure, but it just feels like I know exactly what we’re going to get from him even before he appears on the screen.
There are a few moments where he’s expressing some big emotions and outcomes his signature bellowing, which then made me chuckle because it felt a bit like it came straight out of Scent of a Woman.
So as I had said, this is based on true events, but in this, the timelines feel a little wonky and even a bit hard to follow. I mean, this is telling an account of real people. So when events happen, it was difficult to place them in this.
I got the sense that the movie compressed many years and then started the story later than the real one begins. I mean, it’s not like this is a make or breaks it thing, but it was odd, and this is also noticeable because of the soundtrack.
Now I love the song choices because a lot of them are nostalgic pop songs, but their placement didn’t totally fit in the timeline.
I mean, take the wedding of Patrizia and Maurizio. In real life, they’re married in 1972, but in the film, they have George Michael’s Faith playing in the wedding scene, and that song came out in 1987.
I mean, again, it’s not something that makes me storm out of the theater, but it just points to how the timeline has shifted and even compressed despite this being based on real events.
This is a long movie, two hours and 37 minutes, and there were portions that I felt the length, and I think a lot of that has to do with the pacing itself.
The film spends a lot of time establishing the relationships and family dynamics, which I totally appreciate, especially as somebody who knew nothing about this family or the story.
I mean, as you can tell, I’m not really the most fashionable. I’m good with my jeans and my flannels, but I do know the prestige the Gucci brand has or at least had.
With all the development the narrative does a good job of detailing how decisions are made and some of the treachery that’s involved in the interfamily dynamics. But within this, some things are rushed, making a sequence’s conflict come on faster than feels natural.
And then where it’s probably most noticeable, the last act of the story is incredibly fast. I mean, it’s just like boom, boom, boom with events. We just see them happen without some of the supporting contexts that we had got in the first portion of the story.
And this just makes the ending feel very rushed and then we only get some postscript titles on the screen to give us a few final details on some of the characters.
Now, something that’s more of a fun fact in this than anything else is that Salma Hayek stars in this as a television psychic who Patrizia befriends and then later schemes with.
At some point and it’s depicted in the film. The Gucci company needs some financial assistance, so an investor group is brought in. In real life, Salma Hayek is married to the CEO of the investment firm that now owns Gucci. I mean, among some other properties.
So when I left the theater, I had enjoyed what I watched, but it wasn’t an overwhelming feeling of excitement. The performances are very good, despite the accents fluctuating in their consistency.
Gaga, Driver, and Pacino are fun to watch on the screen, but the standout for me is Jared Leto. And the story is pretty compelling, but the way the film is paced does work against it, making the time very noticeable.
As someone who knew nothing of the family or this story, it was really informative, even if it’s dramatized and not wholly accurate. On the whole, I was entertained, but this isn’t going to be something that I’m going to revisit.
There’s sex, some brief nudity, an absolute ton of profanity, and a bunch of violence.
So I am going to give House of Gucci 2021 movie a C.
Do you have a favorite performance from one of the leads? I’d love to know what it is in the comments below.
Guys thank you so much as always for reading the review of the House of Gucci 2021 film. See you next time with another review.
House of Gucci Trailer
Here is the trailer of the new Crime, Drama, Thriller movie; House of Gucci.
Frequently asked questions about House of Gucci
What is House of Gucci about?
The film follows Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga) as she falls in love with Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver) and marries her way into the dynastic Italian fashion house.
The family company has little appeal for scholarly Maurizio, and his father Rodolfo (Jeremy Irons) and uncle Aldo wield the real power (Al Pacino).
If an outsider like Patrizia wants to be a genuine force at Gucci, she’ll have to push the rest of the family against each other. Even Patrizia and Maurizio eventually fall out, and her fury towards him quickly turns homicidal.
When does House of Gucci come out?
On November 9, 2021, the Odeon Luxe Leicester Square in London hosted the international premiere of House of Gucci. It is released in theaters on November 24, 2021, in North America, and November 26, 2021, in the United Kingdom. It will be available to stream on Paramount+ after its theatrical debut.
Where to watch House of Gucci?
Many studios are now requiring films to be exclusively released in cinemas for at least 45 days, which means House of Gucci may not be available in the United States until early 2022. You should be able to rent the film on Amazon Prime, Google Play, iTunes, YouTube, Vudu, and other platforms once it becomes available in digital format.
