[New post] House of Gucci (Ridley Scott, 2021) Review
Connor Clarke posted: " Spoiler Warning: This discussion features no narrative spoilers. You can see it as more of an objective take on the quality of the text in question. ★★ "It was a name that sounded so sweet." I'm not entirely sure where to begin with House of Guc" Connor Clarke Film
Spoiler Warning: This discussion features no narrative spoilers. You can see it as more of an objective take on the quality of the text in question.
Rating: 2 out of 5.
"It was a name that sounded so sweet."
I'm not entirely sure where to begin with House of Gucci. On paper, this should be hitting strikes with everything it throws. You've got Ridley Scott, Adam Driver, Lady Gaga, Jeremy Irons, and Al Pacino, for God's sake. Yet all we got is an underbaked battle for who can do the most distracting Italian accent. The award is Jared Leto's to claim, by the way. There isn't an element of this that couldn't have been better. Nobody is operating at their best, from the cast to the soundtrack compiler.
I never really want to think about this again; it's everything I hate about this kind of filmmaking. Sensaltionalised drama for the mass audience with talented people who don't live up to expectations. Is this the worst film of 2021? Undoubtedly not, some of it is fine and even shows promise, but realistically it isn't even the best Ridley Scott and Adam Driver collaboration of 2021. Jared Leto's turn as Paolo Gucci wouldn't be out of place in The Room - for all I know, it is Tommy Wiseau underneath all that make-up. It's not like he's in a cast of iconic roles here either; almost everyone is lukewarm at best.
Ridley Scott has his cruise control set to ten below the speed limit for the entire runtime despite stepping on the gas for a sequence occasionally. In the long run, for a 160-minute movie, it's painfully bland, relying so heavily on a true-life narrative that may well have been considerably more interesting in the hands of a highly-competent documentary filmmaker. So I guess this is entertaining in the same way that listening to someone recall historical events is. It's fine; I don't hate it, but it merges with 1000 other texts that do the exact same thing with a quarter of the budget and experience that House of Gucci has behind it.
The film also has a tendency of destroying sequences with musical choices that I should love. I like the pieces of Italian string orchestrations that match the grandiosity of this family mob mentality that attempts to shred on the likes of The Godfather. However, it also sets a wedding sequence to Faith? Throws in Blue Monday, Heart of Glass and Ashes to Ashes with the consistency of the British weather. I love all of those songs deeply, but here they feel like a hideous growth on the back of a film that never planned to include them.
I hope to never see House of Gucci again with total honesty. It reminds me of someone who wants you to know their bag is Gucci or their shoes are Gucci - shallow and highfalutin for absolutely no reason. It's certainly indescribably bad in spots - here's looking at you: Jared Leto spouting his confusion between shit and chocolate. However, it's not the worst movie of all time, and I am sure some audiences might find some fun in it, even just for attractive people having sex and good costume.
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