"House of Gucci" review — campy satire with no camp and crime drama with no drama

“Father, Son, and House of Gucci.”

In a family like this, every action is a play for power. With a title and a family name that drips power and regality, the Lady Gaga-led cartoonish biography explores the collapse of one of the most infamous family-run businesses. House of Gucci is based around the life of Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga) from the beginnings of her romance with Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver) in the early 70s, to her incarceration in the late 90s, and all of the chaos she left in between. It’s a film that revels in the cutthroat, backhanded, and blood-filled history of the fashion empire. Although Gaga would argue that Reggiani herself was a victim of the family, the film certainly has no mercy for her nor any of the other Guccis. “I didn’t realize I married a monster,” Reggiani says angrily to her husband towards the end of their relationship. “No,” says Maurizio. “You married a Gucci.”

House of Gucci has been a long time coming. The hotly-anticipated film adaptation of the collapse of the Gucci family had been in development since 2006 when Ridley Scott signed on as director. The film swapped directorial hands in 2012 when Scott passed the buck to his daughter Jordan Scott. Then in 2016, acclaimed Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-wai took over the project before it once again returned to Ridley Scott in 2019. The script has changed author just as many times, if not more. The film has also been shaded by controversy with the surviving members of the Gucci family speaking out against the film. Finally, in February 2021 with COVID protocols in place, the film went into production with a release date projected for that fall. Unfortunately, the end results of the film are decidedly mixed.

Adam Driver as Maurizio Gucci. © MGM 2021.

The Alien-director’s second film of the year, following The Last Duel, House of Gucci is a misguided, campy project that has a lot of compelling, interesting ideas but doesn’t have the big-picture cohesion to bring it all together. The film feels like a well-done paint-by-numbers. It’s completely unoriginal and painfully generic in its structure or presentation, but it plays to the convention of the “epic 20th-century Italian-American crime saga” genre well. There’s a slew of exciting, retro needle drops and energetic editing, but the film struggles to find its identity never fully committing to the silliness and camp brought by Gaga and her co-star Jared Leto or the drama of Adam Driver or Jeremy Irons.

The first half is where the film shines with the all-star leads being the brightest part. Lady Gaga’s leading performance is as wonderful as all of the reviews have claimed. Coming straight for her second Oscar award, Gaga has a relentless commitment to her performance as Reggiani. Gaga’s fascination with the person is evident from the power she packs into her role. Jared Leto portrays Paolo Gucci, Maurizio’s eccentric cousin, with a performance that feels like an audition tape for a live-action Super Mario Bros. film. Al Pacino is delightful and brings his signature Pacio-ish chaos to his part as Aldo, Paulo’s father. Jeremy Irons brings a fearsome self-seriousness to his part as Rodolfo, Maurizio’s father. Lastly, Adam Driver, in back-to-back collaborations with Scott, plays Maurizio whose descent from the reluctant heir to the ferocious tyrant of the company is a sight to behold.

The film embraces its satirical, ridiculous nature in a compelling first half. Despite a few strange editorial decisions, the film begins quite strongly. It is surprisingly hilarious at times, thanks in no small part to Leto’s borderline overacting, and stays deeply entertaining throughout. With the beautiful costumes, quick cuts, and gorgeous Italian and American locals, it’s hard to not feel enchanted with the opulence of the bourgeoisie elites.

Then the film remembers that it’s not supposed to be a farce or satire of the ridiculousness of the ultra-wealthy family, but rather a serious crime drama that is up for awards considerations.

Lady Gaga as Patrizia Reggiani (left) and Jard Leto as Paulo Gucci (right). © MGM 2021.

House of Gucci becomes far more “Oscar bait-ish” and considerably more dull in the second half. The transition from energetic satire to serious drama could not have been more clunky. The drama has no drama because the film has no emotional basis on which to stand or justify the change in pace. The film has these delicious camp elements that would make for a biting parody of the horrific poison excesses of wealth brings, but Scott can’t find it in him to let these elements define his film. As such, the film never feels genuine nor interesting for its own sake.

Tom Ford, fashion designer, former creative director of Gucci, a character in the film, and a respected filmmaker in his own right (his film Nocturnal Animals (2016) is quite excellent), recently wrote an essay with his thoughts on the film. Because of his personal involvement with the real-life narrative that inspired House of Gucci, he notes a few of the historical inaccuracies that appear throughout the film. While these alterations from the true story will most likely only bother Ford, their impacts resonate. Scott’s film doesn’t seem to have much interest in these people as characters, nor does he have the irreverence to use them as cannon fodder to make a Wolf of Wall Street/Vice-esque film that is within arm’s reach.

What House of Gucci becomes, then, is a film that is deeply unfocused and overly bloated. It can’t find a narrative angle and instead opts to tell the entire story of the collapse of the Gucci family, but misses making the players compelling characters. House of Gucci is one of those films that only feels interesting because of the story it's based on. The film generates interest in the real-life Guccis, but can’t seem to justify its existence as a narrative drama nor its gargantuan runtime. While the performances are entertaining, the first half has good energy, and the events that transpire are interesting, it has no strong sense of emotion for which to ground itself. While it’s not bad, it feels of substantially less quality than the other excellent films that have dominated the 2021 awards season.

Score: 3

House of Gucci is now playing in theatres.

House of Gucci information
Directed by Ridley Scott
Written by Becky Johnston, Roberto Bentivegna
Starring Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Jared Leto, Jeremy Irons, and Al Pacino
Released 24 November 2021
157 minutes