Lady Gaga’s Murder Saga Is A Hit On Streaming
Everyone wants to see it!
House of Gucci was definitely one of the most interesting projects Hollywood has put out in recent years, for both good and bad reasons. Still, the intrigue behind the real-life story and the uneven movie itself has caught the public interest, as the Lady Gaga and Adam Driver-led film is currently in the top ten on Amazon Video’s streaming charts. So, is this strange project worth checking out for yourself? The answer is — probably?
First, let’s start with the cast of House of Gucci. It’s pretty stacked overall, so you would expect the performances would be good, and you’d be mostly right. For the most part, the positive reviews of the movie praise the performance first and foremost, though not every member of the cast receives lofty praise. Lady Gaga and Adam Driver lead the film as Patrizia Reggiani and Maurizio Gucci. The movie follows their tumultuous romantic relationship, the battle for the Gucci company, and the eventual murder of Maurizio by hitmen hired by Patrizia. The film also features performances from Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons, Robert de Niro, Jack Huston, Salma Hayek, Camille Cottin, Reeve Carney, and Jared Leto in approximately 100 pounds of makeup and prosthetics. The most mixed performance reviews are awarded to the typically eccentric Jared Leto, with some people enjoying his over-the-top performance and others utterly confused by it. Which, at this point, is hardly surprising from the Morbius actor.
For the most part, reviews of the movie say that the tone is inconsistent and uneven. This makes sense, considering the continuous changes behind the scenes leading up to the movie. The initial seeds of House of Gucci were planted way back in 2006, with Ridley Scott attached to direct. This version would have seen Angelina Jolie and Leonardo DiCaprio in the main roles that Lady Gaga and Adam Driver eventually took on. The project wasn’t revisited until 2012, when Ridley Scott’s daughter, Jordan Scott, was attached to direct instead. Wong Kar-wai was then attached to direct in 2016 before Ridley Scott was attached to direct again in 2019. It definitely seems like the protect went through a few too many changes for there to be a clear vision behind it. Scott directed the movie we got, with Becky Johnston and Roberto Bentivegna writing the final version of the screenplay. The screenplay was based on the wild true story told in the book The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed by Sara Gay Forden.
While the reception to House of Gucci couldn’t be more mixed, it did fairly well at the box office despite being a pandemic-era film. It managed to pull in over $156 million worldwide and became the best opening for a drama film since 2019’s Little Women. This is likely partially from the mostly positive audience reception. While critics were pretty harsh on the movie, audiences were a little more amicable, with the audience score on Rotten Tomatoes currently sitting at 83%. As expected, the Lady Gaga’s performance was one of the main positive aspects pointed out in the reviews. The movie did manage to get nominated for one Academy Award, fittingly, for Best Makeup and Hairstyling. For a movie about one of the world’s most well-known fashion houses, it would be a disappointment if they didn’t nab this nomination. Gucci CEO Marco Bizzarri mentioned that the film production was given access to Gucci’s archives for wardrobes and props, helping add to the authenticity of the costuming.
One of the biggest draws of this movie is the fact that it’s based on a true story. While the movie probably doesn’t capture the truth with 1:1 accuracy, it portrays the broad strokes while adding some dramatic flourishes. The true story of the Gucci family is a truly wild one, so it’s honestly worth checking out the movie just to see it dramatized by some of today’s best working actors. Despite the uneven tone, Lady Gaga and Adam Driver playing these real-life figures is hard to ignore as a selling point. If you’re at all interested in seeing this story play out or checking out Lady Gaga’s latest knockout performance, then this movie is well worth the stream on Prime Video.
