House of Gucci is very much its own thing. Not serious enough to be a Godfather like study of power, greed, and fame, and too serious to swerve into full on camp, Ridley Scott’s movie finds its own lane because of the sure hand of the director, guiding the story and actors to a fully satisfying conclusion. Because holy moly, there’s a LOT of acting, action, and tarot readings Scott has to wrangle together to keep the movie as satisfyingly crazy as Salma Hayek’s tarot cards hopefully predicted.
In the 1970s, brothers Rodolfo (Jeremy Irons) and Aldo (Al Pacino) Gucci built the family name into an empire of wealth and fashion. However, by 1980 both are nearing a point where they have to pick a successor. Aldo and Rodolfo believe that Aldo’s son Paolo (Jared Leto) is too stupid to take over, and put their hopes in Rodolfo’s son Maurizio (Adam Driver) to take up the family mantle. Initially hesitant, Maurizio is persuaded to rise to the family name by Patrizia Reggiani (Lady Gaga), with whom Maurizio has become smitten.
To succeed, House of Gucci requires a tonal tightrope that only someone as seasoned as Ridley Scott can keep from breaking. The bones of the story are dead serious: murder, betrayal, power, greed, but the delivery system is straight cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs: an insane family in the maybe more insane fashion world. That means the director has to have serious scenes have digressions for campiness/dark humor but not lose sight of the story’s overall arc. So Scott gives ample time to let scenes play out, giving the actors their time to ACT and the humor/outrageous insanity to run its course while also landing the scene’s plane to move the story forward. That type of scene juggling under a lesser director would have crashed and burned House of Gucci. But in Scott’s sure hands, he mostly sticks the landing.
But being a movie about Gucci, the House is best when delving into the excesses of this ludicrous, larger than life tale. This movie’s a shoo-in for best costume design, as Gaga, Driver and the Gucci Manes look fabulous everywhere they go, and period appropriate as well. The lavish, gorgeous sets in Italy and New York City really help add stakes and greed to the story without having to overexplain. But the greatest excess of all is our 4 leads, who really go for ALL the Oscars. Let’s go in reverse order: props to team player Adam Driver, happy to don a more thoughtful Italian accent and mannerisms; all the seriousness of the House of Gucci is weaved into Driver’s performance so that he can let his co-stars cook. Al Pacino here is like Christopher Walken in Wedding Crashers; he’s loopy and let’s loose a few times. but in general he’s content to dive into the character in favor of showing his overacting chops. Lady Gaga went method to play Patrizia, and it shows because her accent is pretty remarkably consistent throughout. Gaga proves she’s not just a one hit wonder here, really diving into who Patrizia is and how greed, fame, and power awaken and change her persona, while also finding a few laughs along the way. But everyone, even Ridley Scott, gets out of the way when fat suited, bald headed, Italian accent from outer space Jared Leto starts monologuing. Leto perfectly encapsulates what House of Gucci is inside of Paolo Gucci; you’re laughing at him almost constantly because of the depths of his delusions and self-importance. But damn if Leto doesn’t make you feel the sadness and anger underneath all of it by the end of his speech. It’s chic!
At the end of the day, all you want is your movie to be entertaining. House of Gucci might not live up to Oscar expectations or Lifetime Movie shenanigans, but at no point are you not transfixed at what the hell everyone is wearing, saying, or doing onscreen because of how MUCH they are doing it. So my props to you Ridley Scott, for making a fine entertaining film, and an endless supply of content for memes during the next 5 years. I WANT TO FLY, LIKE A PIGEON!!!!!!