House of Gucci

Has its moments and is well shot but had a hard to time really getting in to this, though guess I enjoyed the chaos and backstabbing within the family. On the other hand, found the Italian accents to be laughable at times and Jared Leto was just ridiculous under that makeup (in conjunction with his accent). Not terrible and at least watchable, though could've been a tad shorter. **2.75/5**

It isn't often that I can say this, but for me the best actor by a country mile here is Jeremy Irons. He plays the aging Rodolfo, whom along with his far more flamboyant brother Aldo (Al Pacino) owns and runs the legendary Italian fashion house. His son Maurizio (Adam Driver) falls in love with Patrizia (Lady Gaga) who the daughter of a trucking company owner and needless to say his dad is less than impressed. He proceeds to cut his son off, but the younger man has fallen totally for his ambitious and savvy new gal, and soon they are married and working with his uncle. Meantime, feeling neglected, and with his nose out of joint, Aldo's ditzy son Paolo (an almost unrecognisable Jared Leto) tries to tap up his uncle Rodolfo with some of his own designs - and my favourite scene as the older man calls a spade a spade ensues! Much of the best of the rest of this has been largely leaked in the trails. Gaga is good, but not great and far too much time is spent on the character establishment. By the time we get to the serious story of how this marriage and this family and this business all turned in onto themselves, betraying and scarring as they went, the pace turns decidedly slow and the events of the story itself become really quite rushed. Way too much of the denouement is encapsulated by one scene and by on-screen text. Had less been made of the preamble, then I think Sir Ridley Scott could have made much more of the interesting and entertaining causes of the dynasty's troubles. Still, it's is enjoyable and flies by. Well worth a watch.

This movie really struggled with pacing. All the time I found myself surprised at how big the jumps in time were, even though everything is chronological. Overall I think they were working from a compelling story but just couldn't quite tell it in a way that was captivating. The film could only hold my attention for half of its length.