Review: Lady Gaga owns stylish and satirical 'House of Gucci' with high-heeled star swagger

Lady Gaga again owns the big screen in the true-life drama “House of Gucci,” though this time it’s not a pop star that’s born but instead one of soapy greatness.

Like Joan Collins and Susan Lucci before her, Gaga’s a one-woman showcase of cunning delight in the star-studded “Gucci” (★★★ out of four; rated R; in theaters), which follows love, rampant betrayal and a brazen murder plot through three decades of the iconic fashion house. One can totally take director Ridley Scott’s satire and everyone in it seriously, though it’s way more enjoyable to sit back and let the couture camp wash over you.

“Gucci” begins in 1978 with Patrizia Reggiani (Gaga), a young Italian woman working for her dad’s trucking company, hitting up a Milanese disco. Going for a drink, she finds Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver) behind the bar, a bespectacled and bookish guy she’s attracted to – even more so when she learns his name. However, Maurizio would rather study law than get involved in his family’s world-renowned fashion house, run by his ailing father Rodolfo (Jeremy Irons) and personable uncle Aldo (Al Pacino).

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The awkward Maurizio falls in love and wants to get married to Patrizia but his dad thinks she’s a gold digger, which leads to Rodolfo cutting off his son's wealth and Maurizio working for Patrizia’s father. After they get hitched, the movie becomes a fashionably modern “Macbeth”: The Gucci company is going through a rocky time, with Aldo commercializing the brand, and Patrizia manipulates Maurizio back into the family fold to a point where both wield a considerable amount of power. Maurizio gradually embraces his wolfish business side and Patrizia gets pushed aside – and consequently confides in a call-in TV psychic (Salma Hayek) – as the story veers from darkly comic to ultimately tragic.

Scott creates an extremely stylish world of runways, ostentatious estates and stunning costumes for his various characters. And his actors are a colorful bunch in a bring-your-own-accent situation. At one point, Irons looks like he’s been slathered in horror movie makeup, Pacino balances playful and raging sides as the personable Aldo, and an unrecognizable Jared Leto – who’s there somewhere underneath a ton of prosthetics – is a blast to watch as Aldo’s mercurial son Paolo.