Over the past weekend, I went to watch House of Gucci and I genuinely thought it was never going to end. I had been anticipating viewing this new hit because I am a big fan of the actors and actresses. I am typically stunned by performances by Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Al Pacino, and Jared Leto, but this just did not give in the way that I thought it would. I am going to rank different aspects of the movie on a scale of one to ten to ultimately give it my personal score. 

Plot: 3/10

This is where the movie really lacked. The pacing was painfully slow at total screentime of 158 minutes. I feel like the Director tried to fit too much and too long of a time frame into this movie. There would be scenes where they would drag out for a large chunk of time that seem somewhat unimportant and then skip a huge chunk of the plot that seems significant. For example, throughout the beginning of the movie, Adam Driver’s character, Maurizio Gucci, was reluctant to become part of the family business; then all of the sudden there is a scene where he jumps off of a couch and his character is converted and becomes an adamant believer in the Gucci business. It just all happened so fast and I feel as though that was a pretty significant aspect of his character development. There were just many plot gaps because of the extremely large time frame that the Director was trying to cover which made it confusing and boring at times. Major spoiler alert warning for the next sentence! The best part of the movie was the very end when Patrizia hired hitmen to murder Maurizio because it was ultimately the climax of the movie, but it was in the last 10 minutes which I think is the fundamental issue of the plot.  The whole movie was just a slow buildup to the very end and it was hard to feel intrigued since it was over 2 1/2 hours long.

Setting: 9/10

The setting was absolutely beautiful. It was completely filmed in Italy and all of the locations were absolutely amazing. Some of the best scenes were shot at Lake Como and in the Italian Alps. I find it impressive that they were able to film completely in Italy given that in the movie the settings included Italy, New York, and Switzerland. I believe that the setting was the best part of the movie just because every scene was taken in a unique setting that was different from typical movie locations. It made the movie colorful and full of life while other aspects of the movie lacked.

Characters: 5/10

I was honestly disappointed by the performances in this movie. I love Adam Driver and Lady Gaga and I was very excited to see them take on these roles because of their past executions. Adam Driver in Marriage Story and Lady Gaga in A Star Is Born were astonishing and made me hopeful for this movie. I feel like Lady Gaga’s portrayal of Patrizia was good and her exuberant personality fit the character accordingly, but Adam Driver’s character lacked. I do not feel as though Maurizio was developed as well is it could have been given that Adam Driver is such a phenomenal actor. His character was pretty bland and it did not attach me to his character by the end. I know that it may be a part of the movie to feel this way, but I was not connected to any of the roles by the end and I just felt as though I was not pulling for any of them. I enjoyed the performances by Al Pacino and Jared Leto as members of the Gucci family. Jared Leto’s acting range was truly brought to light with his role as Paolo Gucci. He was a very different person and very odd which made it very interesting and he added comedic relief throughout the film. I just feel like the characters could have been developed further since the Gucci family was such a unique one and so divided.

Costume: 8/10

The costumes were phenomenal in this movie. I mean to be fair, it would be pretty difficult to mess them up since the theme was Gucci in the 1980s-90s. Each outfit embodied the Gucci brand during this time period which was very fascinating and made it more interesting. Patrizia’s hair and makeup were always done to the max which was something that I focused on because of the boringness of the plot. The prosthetics that were applied to Jared Leto to play the role of Paolo Gucci made it nearly impossible to even recognize him which was amazing. I think the costumes were another aspect that made the movie better and made up for the lack of characters and plot.

Overall, I believe that this movie was way too long for a poor plot and poor main characters. This movie was only brought up by the costumes and the setting. I just was disappointed by this movie given that I was anticipating something so great. If you were debating on whether to watch it 0r not, I would pass over this one and try something else.