House of Gucci (2021)

House of Gucci has an A-list cast, A-list director, and a salacious plot but never finds the right balance between camp and high drama, never connects to any real sense of commentary, and struggles to find a consistent tone. It's a long film that feels long, yet feels like its still missing so much. Mostly a misfire, there are elements within it that are fascinating and moments of performances that are stunning, but they are mixed with scenery chewing and sloppiness that takes away from the film. 

Often while watching House of Gucci I had difficulty following the characters' trajectories. They would do one thing in one scene and then suddenly have progressed to an entirely different perspective without the film showing us how they got there. The characters are just poorly drawn, fluctuating wildly and unpredictably between motivations and personalities. We have some of Hollywood's best and brightest here yet they oscillate between playing it straight and hamming it up. I never felt I had a handle on what I was watching therefore it often left me feeling cold. 

The story feels exploitative. Watching the rich and powerful flounder always feels like a cheap passtime. What director Scott did with his All The Money in the World was just so much more complex, interesting, and insightful.  Gucci just feels like watching The Real Housewives of... something. Gucci suffers from American Hustle syndrome. it's all about the hair and costumes and the story takes a sideline. There were moments I was almost getting into it. Gaga or Pacino (or any of them really) would have a tremendous scene and then the film would just slip into something distracting that took me back out of it. Also others are wasted. Why cast Salma Hayek if you're going to give her little to nothing to do? 

And then it just ends. The film takes a really long time to reach its climax, a climax it teases in the first moments, and then it never finds a way to pay it off. The ending is rushed and never capitalizes on the murder or the investigation at its heart. If the film developed a deeper insight into the inner workings of the family perhaps it could be forgiven, but because the film sticks to its melodrama so much it should at least get into the fall. But so much of what happens in Gucci just happens. Dad dies. Uncle goes to jail for tax evasion. Betrayal. Murder. It all just happens without any setting the stage or developing the pathos in each situation. So when the film suddenly jars to a halt and then prints across the screen what happened to each character afterward in "real life" it doesn't feel shocking it just feels predictable. 

This is one of those films that one would imagine should be so much better because of all involved. And maybe that's what makes House of Gucci such a disappointment. 

House of Gucci

Starring: Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Al Pacino, Jared Leto, Jeremy Irons, Salma Hayek, Jack Huston, Reeve Carney, Camille Cotton

Director: Ridley Scott

Writers: Becky Johnston, Roberto Bentivegna