The reviews for House of Gucci seem to be almost as conflicting as the Gucci family themselves. Lady Gaga's performance is something to behold, according to most critics.
Lady Gaga and Adam Driver are in House of Gucci, a biographical crime drama about Patrizia Reggiani, her ex- husband, and the family behind the Gucci luxury fashion house. A very high-profile murder.
The trailers for House of Gucci made one expect a camp, highly dramatic and over-the-top film, however the reality seems to be slightly more moderate. House of Gucci doesn't push itself into being unapologetically camp, but also doesn't let itself be completely grounded and serious, leaving it awkwardly straddling the two. The film drags in the second half, with Forbes' Scott Mendelson saying that the last third stretched out to 45 minutes.
Gaga's scenery-chewing performance has been praised as "magnetic" and in some ways the saving grace of House of Gucci. The spectacle of everyone enjoying their outsized performances is enough to make House of Gucci entertaining.
Critics have a lot to say about House of Gucci.
The A.V. Club has a writer named Katie Rife.
It would be hard to see a romp in House of Gucci. We get a fact-based family melodrama and a meandering one at that.
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The movie could become too much. It is admirable that it doesn't. Gucci's more moderate tendencies feel like a tease because it's so close to becoming something crazy. Gaga has an opportunity to burn even brighter if she keeps the movie in check. Patrizia Reggiani's Wikipedia page is more entertaining than the middle hour of House of Gucci.
Alex Godfrey is from Empire.
The House of Gucci is not interested in being subtle. Every performance is huge, and everything that happens is out-sized.
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Despite the story's operatic sweep, it feels oddly undramatic, the filmmaking itself quite detached. You won't be weeping over anyone, but maybe that's the point?
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It is hard to take House Of Gucci seriously. It is an infectious, bizarro bit of fun because of the glee being had by those involved.
Entertainment Weekly's Leah Greenblatt writes.
His House is a movie that is so packed with oversized characters and telenovela twists that it feels less like a biopic than a duty-free Dynasty.
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Gucci might have been a better movie if it had fully committed to the high camp. It's more serious than that, at least intermittently, and a strange melange of too much and not enough.
Scott Mendelson is from Forbes.
Is the movie good? [It] is a long and lumbering 2.5 hour movie that details most of the most interesting story elements and character beats in its first hour.
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The whole business subplots frankly don't amount to much, because of the momentary spectacle of seeing Gaga try to play three-dimensional chess with her in-laws.
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In the first hour we get the best of both worlds, as we get the best of both worlds in terms of business and pleasure. The film runs out of gas relatively early on, and it would be a bad movie without the Oscar race and the rarity of such big-scale adult dramas of this nature.
Peter Bradshaw is a writer for The Guardian.
Lady Gaga's performance as Patrizia Reggiani, the enraged ex-wife of Guccio Gucci, saved the soap opera from being completely silly. She singlehandedly delivers the movie from any issues about Italianface casting: only she can speak English with a foreign accent.
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The House of Gucci is enjoyable despite Scott's approach to Italy and Italian culture.
Tara Bennett writes.
The director lets the whole affair get so self-serious and Lifetime-movie-overwrought by its meandering end that I was left wishing for the better film that was buried in there.
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Gaga's Patrizia gets more arch later in the film. She makes the most of some campy, quotable scenes, but it never feels like an organic performance like it did in the beginning.
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Adam Driver, Lady Gaga, and Al Capone give performances that bring out the emotional complexity of the historically dysfunctional Gucci family in House of Gucci. The fall of the corporation and its machinations is what drives Scott to focus on the personal implosion of Patrizia and Maurizio.
David Ehrlich writes.
House of Gucci is a movie about blood-feud. House of Gucci is locked in a heated conversation with its own campiness from the moment it starts.
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House of Gucci is determined to be serious in the face of farcical ambition. Lady Gaga is one of the most self-possessed actors on the planet, and she plays Patrizia Reggiani as a caricature. The result is a performance that gradually humanizes a social climber as she tumbles back down towards hell, but Gaga seems to gain even more control over herself as Patrizia towards the end.
Mae Abdulbaki writes.
Lady Gaga's performance as Patrizia is one of the best things about House of Gucci, but it's not understood enough about her perspective. The screenplay could have used more polishing on what drives Patrizia besides money and power.
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The film's emotional beats lack effectiveness, turmoil, and general panache, and there's a lot of potential that goes undiscovered. The way it was handled ultimately fell flat.
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House of Gucci is melodramatic enough to be engaging and watchable, with the performances being a stand out, a lot of the story needs to be explored and further explored for it to achieve anything beyond superficiality.
Owen Gleiberman is from Variety.
House of Gucci is an icepick docudrama that has a lot of fun with its grand roster of ambitious scoundrels, but it is never less than a straight-faced and nimbly accomplished movie.
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The film is absorbing because it takes the world it shows us on its own coldly flamboyant terms.
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If you are looking for overripe kitschy malevolence, you will not find it, and if you are looking for a hero to connect to, you will not find that either. If you get onto the film's wavelength, you'll see the spectacle of corporate war.
The House of Gucci is coming to theaters.
