I had no idea what to expect when going into this film at the cinemas, and even now, after watching it, I still have a mixed bag of feelings toward it. First and foremost, the basis for this story itself is a really interesting one. I remember reading something about the original legacy a while back and thought it was quite interesting, and I think it has translated well to the big screen. Although, there are a lot of moving parts to this film, and I get the distinct impression that a lot of the story elements are either glossed over way to quickly or aren't given enough time to develop properly. Simultaneously, however, I do feel like the 2 hours and 37 minute runtime is a bit excessive, like it could be stripped back. Somehow, I have come out of the cinema feeling that it feels both rushed and drawn out, which is odd to say the least. Honestly, I think it could've translated better as a Netflix original or the like, giving everything time to play out while not having to stuff it all into a film.
I do feel that Lady Gaga and Adam Driver did their jobs amazingly in this film. While I don't think the two of them had the best chemistry on screen, their individual performances were excellent, especially Gaga's (while A Star Is Born was definitely a great on screen debut for her, House of Gucci is undeniably her break-out performance). She presents her accents and mannerisms eerily close to the actual Patrizia Reggiani, the woman she is playing. I hope that she continues to appear in films, at it appears that she has found herself a niche. Driver also has to be credited with an amazing and accurate performance, though let's face it, that's like most other credits of his. One performance I outright hated, however, was that of Jared Leto. I am not a fan of Leto, but even in this film I felt he was pushing the boundary of how grating he is. I don't really know about the original Paolo Gucci, but Leto puts on a ridiculously over the top accent, and he just sounds like some sort of knock-off Mario. Its made even worse when you go from Leto prancing around like a child to a legend like Al Pacino. He's fine in the first half, in a way a bit of "comic-relief" (putting that lightly) but he becomes more prominent in the second half and I go from enjoying myself to hoping that every scene with him in ends as soon as possible. Some have said Leto was the best part of the film, but I'm going to go out on a whim and say he's the worst.
Overall, I'd say go an watch this thing. There are shortcomings, of course (in the case of Leto, very short) but I did enjoy myself and I think I can quite confidently say that this is Ridley Scott's best film of 2021- though if the only competition is The Last Duel, that isn't really much of a compliment at face value.
Overall Rating: 7/10
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