House of Gucci

Movie: House of Gucci

Nominated for: Best Make up and Hairstyling

How I watched: On Demand

When I fell asleep: No, though we watched it over the course of two days

When it had me: Lady Gaga is great onscreen

When it lost me: Jared Leto overdoing it

What I have to say:

Here come my lowered expectations, again. I went in thinking this was going to be a heap but I thought there was some good film making going on. Nice editing, lovely acting moments from Lady Gaga and Al Pacino, and pretty nice story telling for one of those biopics.

Most surprising was the fact that I actually didn't know what was going to happen. If I'd ever actually heard about the Gucci family "drama" then I had completely forgotten it so I had no idea how this would turn out.

I found myself wishing this film had been made in Italy so I could see all Italian actors playing the roles. Jeremy Irons is just so English. Adam Driver was mostly wooden, which may have been the purposeful choice, so that's fair. Jared Leto was painful to watch, way over the top for me but also kind of comic relief? Al Pacino was on in like maybe two scenes and sleeping through the rest. I found Salma Hayek to be more interesting in this film for playing something other than a gorgeous woman. Lady Gaga was definitely the one who shined and found real moments of vulnerability and also showing us a person manipulating, with a credible balance between her underlying motive shining through and a very believable outward facing facade, which is a fun kind of challenge.

A usual complaint: it was so very LONG. I wish they could have trimmed it down by about 30 minutes.