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Reviews are in for ‘House of Gucci’ – What’s the Verdict?
Reviews are in for ‘House of Gucci’ – What’s the Verdict?
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We all know that picture that has been making the rounds on Twitter for the past few months ahead of the release of Ridley Scott’s latest film: House of Gucci. You know the one – the snowy mountain backdrop with Adam Driver in a knitted turtleneck, with an arm around Lady Gaga, who wears a crown of fur on her head. This promo photo alone accumulated over four million likes on Gaga’s Instagram account and fans were here for it.
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With excitement mounting and the much-anticipated new release set to hit the cinemas this Friday, many were geared up for a story dripping in camp-couture but judging by the early reviews, Ridley Scott has missed the mark.
Chief film critic from the Telegraph, Robbie Colin, has dubbed it “the most memeable film of the year,” adding, “while House of Gucci is never less than watchably raucous, it’s also essentially a soap opera with airs, rambling along from episode to episode without ever settling into its stride.”
And this isn’t the only disparaging review.
The Times rated the film one star, hailing it as a “howlingly inept biopic, probably his [Scott] worst film since The Counsellor, with several moments of such knuckle-chewing awfulness that the entire movie seems to lurch into wonky self-parody and could possibly secure a lucrative box-office future as a laugh-a-long camp classic in the vein of Showgirls or The Room.”
Ouch!
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Jumping on the criticism, TheWrap decreed that “this true-crime saga of the Gucci family losing control of their own fashion empire could have been a full-blown camp classic were it not so frequently dull and tentative.” It’s safe to say that critics haven’t been holding their tongue when it comes to opinions about this film.
However, amongst the sea of scathing criticism is a tiny lighthouse in the distance casting faint rays of hope and although it seems like critics had a hundred million reasons to walk away from this film, we only need one good one to stay and that, ladies and gentlemen, is Gaga. (Excuse the pun I had to do it.)
The Guardian noted that “Ridley Scott’s fantastically rackety, messy soap opera about the fall of the house of Gucci is rescued from pure silliness by Lady Gaga’s glorious performance as Patrizia Reggiani… Every time Gaga comes on screen, you just can’t help grinning at her sly elegance, mischief and performance-IQ.”
Speaking to Vogue magazine ahead of the film’s release, Lady Gaga said that she “spoke with an accent for nine months,” even admitting that her method acting had caused her moments of “psychological difficulty.” So given her commitment to the role, it’s nice to see that the comments surrounding Gaga’s performance in House of Gucci are largely positive.
If we dive a little deeper into the reviews for this film, it’s clear that audience members all had the same complaints. Initially, the movie starts with a lot of promise as Adam Driver, Lady Gaga and Al Pacino give performances that portray the emotional complexity of the well-documented dysfunctional nature of the Gucci family.
The first two thirds of the film focus heavily on Patrizia (Gaga’s character) who is definitely the most interesting character in the movie but then, bizarrely, they more or less abandon her story, instead giving too much of the narrative to side characters and scenes which were unnecessary, thus dulling down the tragedy of the story.
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According to the critics, the main problem lies within the script. If we were judging the movie by the trailers, which featured a star-studded cast, stunning locations and an iconic Blondie soundtrack, it would have been difficult to believe that this movie could be so boring and yet according to dozens of early reviews, that’s exactly what it is.
The cold and unfeeling climax of the film ends abruptly and without any familial drama, which many have criticised as underwhelming and to be fair, if you manage to bore audiences with scenes of Adam Driver and Lady Gaga acting side by side, then congratulations.
All in all, early reviews are a mixed bag, so it will be very interesting to hear opinions from the public when House of Gucci hits cinemas this Friday.