Ridley Scott has had a crazy 2021. The legendary director emerged from lockdown with not one but two films, both big-budget historical dramas with A-list casts. They were also incredibly non-serious in places. The first, “The Last Duel,” is a harrowing and thrilling epic about medieval France’s last duel, and it examines sexual abuse, power dynamics, and systemic misogyny, all while Ben Affleck speaks with a hilariously unconvincing accent and sports a bizarre blonde hairstyle. Then, a few months later, Scott followed up with “House of Gucci”.
Now, the latter — a true crime thriller starring Lady Gaga — is nowhere near as good as “The Last Duel.” Its themes aren’t as strong, its production design is less spectacular, and its acting leaves a lot to be desired. Likewise, the film left critics and audiences perplexed, as almost everyone agreed that it was an unbalanced attempt to make a prestige drama by means of a trashy soap opera. And yet, as /Film’s Chris Evangelista writes in his review, “It’s hard not to have fun with everything on display here – all the glitz, all the glamour, all the bad accents.” Yes, the issue of accents is important, because this film features some of the craziest and funniest attempts at Italian accents in recent memory. Gaga, for example, appears to be doing an impersonation of Dracula, while Jared Leto’s supporting performance is best described as a live-action Waluigi.
“House of Gucci” is a film that you absolutely must experience. Is it good? Not really. Is this a great time? Absolutely. It’s also the film that caused Scott to break his rule against sex scenes and features an absurdly long (and borderline hilarious) coitus moment. Luckily, the movie is now streaming on Netflix, so you have no excuse not to watch it.
Have a good time with a bad movie streaming House of Gucci
If we had to sum up “House of Gucci” in a single image, it would be the Italian “pinched finger” emoji. Scott’s film deals with dark and often nasty topics, as you would expect from a film about Maurizio Gucci’s (Adam Driver) true success through his ex-wife Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga). And yet, this film is also ridiculously silly, with a storyline that oscillates between tragedy and absurdity.
Then there’s the casting. Praise to father, son and the House of Gucci, because Sir Ridley Scott has assembled a brilliant group of actors to pull off some of the most ridiculous work ever done here – which is saying something, considering Leto went on to star in “Morbius” just months after “House of Gucci” hit theaters.
Speaking of which, Leto’s performance, in particular, needs to be highlighted, because what he does in this film goes beyond camp and everyday overacting into a weird realm where adjectives and criticism don’t do it justice. As Paolo Gucci, the black sheep of the Gucci clan, Leto somehow manages to make his co-star Al Pacino’s turn as Aldo Gucci (one of the family patriarchs) look understated. In fact, his performance is so conspicuous that Pacino thought Leto was just an “Italian weirdo” when he first encountered him in character.
“House of Gucci” is an exorbitant two hours and 37 minutes, which is somehow too long but not enough time with these delicious weirdos. If you haven’t yet experienced the (mostly) true story of the fall of the Gucci empire, complete with Leto (in a horribly funny Italian accent) explaining the difference between crap and chocolate, you owe it to yourself to stream the film on Netflix.
