IR Film Review: HOUSE OF GUCCI [MGM]
The intention of "House Of Gucci" as a satire is an interesting mix coming from someone like director Ridley Scott because the tone needs to be balanced to show exactly in a way of what is being shown. If one is looking at the irony of excess, the motivations of "Wolf Of Wall Street" were much more convincing. It is not that that those characters were undeniably smarter than the Guccis shown here, but the MO was much more crisp and vibrant and without as much posturing. "House Of Gucci" feels like a TV movie made with big name stars. If Scott was to do excess, the game could have been stepped up. Every actor in a way seems to be making a different movie but with each having moments of brilliance but never quite taking on that essence.
Lady Gaga at moments here can be thrilling but it is as if she is playing a caricature (which she is in a way). But you see that sharpness and fire which never quite reaches the Machiavellian possibiiies they could. Scott could have pushed it more. It feels a little lazy or maybe it was just rushed. It just doesn't live up to its possibilities. The motivations of Gaga's character are both family and business and yet her ultimate want is truly elusive because the performance was not refined as it could have been by her director. The distinction in a way between someone like Cooper versus an old director like Scott is apparent. Gaga has her look down and whether it is prosthetics or not, she physically looks like Patrizia Raggiani but it plays more spaghetti than parmesan. She really did deserve a better movie as her follow up to "A Star Is Born" but the pedigree here and the Gucci company allowing use of their name and stores (even though none of the family is part of it anymore) must have been hard to refuse.
Adam Driver, usually full of edge, plays meek here which is part of the point but his dynamism is lost here as the man that Gaga's Patrizia falls for. Beyond his money, there seems to be no reason for her to be into him. There is also not much chemistry to speak of between the actors even when they are supposed to be in love. The person who fares best but he is in a completely separate movie is Jared Leto as Paolo Gucci, the idiot son of Aldo Gucci (Al Pacino). Leto completely disappears but his comedy in the role is priceless though it is hard to understand what he is quite going for. The character is ironically tragic in many ways but it is only one time in a small scene with Lady Gaga that you see his serious eyes shine through. In another irony, he is like the Fredo of the bunch which is even more interesting since his father Aldo is played by Pacino.
Pacino plays it quieter but the problem in the sarcasm of the piece is just the love the character has for Italy gets lost in the bamboozled progression. Only two scenes, ironically both with Leto, really plays to the man's fall from grace. The formerly mentioned scene in a board room is intense but still falls short. The eventual resolution which reflects in real life what happened seems particularly bourgeois by comparison. Like his film "The Contender" but on a larger scale, "House Of Gucci" is a complete misfire by Scott with some brilliance scattered throughout. A really good barometer that shows this is music placement. Watch this especially with one scene using George Michael's "Faith" where the time period, placement and cinematic use are all off compared with any scene from "The Wolf Of Wall Street". It is too bad but it happens. D+
By Tim Wassberg
