I saw this for the first time years ago and kinda hoped that over time, i'd get a better appreciation of what all the fuss was about. Sadly, i'm mostly confirmed in my prior judgement on this film that it's a hot mess, its three-hour running time feeling like pure overconfidence of a director in his ability to entertain through pure high-life spectacle, with some vignettes working great and others not so much. Then again, the emptyness of the whole thing only reflects the reality of those who, in their pursuit of happiness - whatever that is supposed to mean - ultimately end up suffering from a lack of meaning and purpose. The Gucci sponsorship of the restored print is kinda telling. Do these people feel themselves and their lifestyle represented here and are just so fucking proud of it? And also: Was that the author's intention here? In that way, the film kinda works as a rorschach test for your values and political leanings. Its protagonists may elicit admiration in some. For me, it's mostly disgust though. I like to think of this as intentional but i might be giving the film too much credit. My favorite segment though is the one about the Madonna sighting and ensuing religious media spectacle, fake as fuck and meticulously staged for the TV cameras, backed by feature film production values. So maybe, in that context, films like this one should be seen as a religion of their own? One that idolises wealth and excess? A ceremony of worship towards a lifestyle utterly elusive to most of its audience? Or maybe it's just all pretentious garbage but what do i know...