House of Gucci

A superficial ride on the cheap tinsel of fashion mafiosi, which wallows in its own pompous chauvinism, but never once gets under your skin. Scott is a great man. For one hundred and fifty minutes he blows out the candles on a birthday cake sovereignly like Aldo, and you'll even forgive the shortness of breath. But when it's all over, you'll feel a little disappointed that a showrunner who wasn't afraid to push the characters through something deeper for eight up to ten hours didn’t take up the mantle. (2022-11-22)

House of Gucci is a moderately entertaining film, though thanks only to the overacting, which can hardly be considered an asset. It’s as if Scott deliberately didn’t keep them on the leash, so as to cause ripples on the stagnant surface of the dramaturgically weak material. For a more dramatic subject (also based on actual events), a more suspenseful narrative and a better “bad guy”, I liked his All the Money in the World a bit better. Jeremy Irons and Al Pacino were the only ones I enjoyed here. And of course Camille Cottin towards the end. (2021-12-10)

Ridley Scott has a weaker moment and although this film is not completely bad, in my eyes it's his weakest work in the last five years. The story is quite interesting, but the execution is a bit bland and uninteresting. We follow the Gucci family and I was kind of hoping it would be a gangster movie, but it's more of a drama. The acting is solid. Adam Driver as Scott's new tagalong is decent, Lady Gaga is solid, Jared Leto was bit too theatrical for my taste, but the make-up was unreal, and Al Pacino was okay, except for the Italian accent, that bothered me a bit. I found the direction a bit cold and for the exorbitant 150 minute running time, the film offered very few interesting or attractive scenes. I didn't even care much about the fashion. Considering the subject matter, the actors and the director, I was expecting a film at least a level higher in all respects, but I got through it without too much trouble and I think three stars is adequate.Story 3/5, Action 0/5, Humour 0/5, Violence 1/5, Fun 3/5 Music 3/5, Visuals 4/5, Atmosphere 3/5, Suspense 2/5, Emotion 2/5, Actors 4/5. 6/10. (2022-02-08)

When I first saw the ambitious length of this film, it gave me pause. Yet, as the final credits rolled, I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly the time seemed to fly by. True, action lovers definitely did not get their fill, but I was satisfied. Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, whom I've never particularly warmed up to due to her music not being my cup of tea, caught me off guard with her wonderful performance. The rest of the cast didn't lag behind either; the script was delightfully unsettling, and thankfully, no one mispronounced the word Lamborghini. This all added up to a decently satisfying watch. Lesson learned: I know I don't need to say this but it still holds true: "Beware of gold diggers!" (2022-05-30)

Ridley Scott's second biopic this year, this time from a more recent history than The Last Duel, had to compensate for the foregone conclusion through the acting and technical execution, which he thankfully managed to do quite well in most cases. The screen brings together acting aces of both the older and younger generations, and although their English-Italian comes across as a little dodgy at times, they give quality performances. The audio-visual execution is good, which is not surprising in a film by Scott. Although I’ve rated both films with four stars, I found The Last Duel more impressive. House of Gucci gets minus points for an unnecessarily long running time and the death of Maurizio, which was a bit too much for my taste, but it's still a solid biographical drama. (2021-12-10)