Overview
A captivating tale of beauty, ambition, and the darker side of fame.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Easy to follow
- Violence
- Mild
- volatile
- melancholic
- intimate
- fashion film night
- biographical drama night
What critics said
Critics broadly praised Angelina Jolie's uninhibited, effective performance in this emotionally intense biographical television drama, while some found its portrait reductive.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Gia's rapid modeling success is presented alongside escalating addiction, unstable relationships, and declining health.
Gia's sexuality and relationships with women are central to her search for intimacy and belonging.
Magazine covers, fashion photography, and nightlife spectacle repeatedly give way to addiction, illness, and isolation.
Gia pursues modeling, sex, drugs, and intense attachment with increasingly dangerous consequences.
Films like Gia, and why
The Runaways
shares a tragic biographical portrait of a charismatic woman whose fame, addiction, sexuality, and emotional isolation drive her downfall
The Eyes of Tammy Faye
similarly combines fashion-world glamour, queer identity, substance abuse, and an intense rise-and-fall character study
I, Tonya
offers a dark, emotionally charged biographical drama about celebrity, self-destruction, and the costs of public desire
Movie Details
- Director
- Michael Cristofer
- Release Date
- 1998-09-22
- Runtime
- 120 min
- Rating
- 7.1 / 10 (854)
Cast
- Angelina Jolie
- Elizabeth Mitchell
- Eric Michael Cole
- Kylie Travis
- Louis Giambalvo
- John Considine
- Scott Cohen
- Edmund Genest
- Mercedes Ruehl
- Faye Dunaway
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- HBO Max Amazon Channel, HBO Max
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Gia about?
- A gifted model's intoxicating ascent through 1970s and 1980s New York fashion becomes a devastating search for love, belonging, and escape.
- What is Gia like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Gia as brisk, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as easy to follow.
- Is Gia violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in Gia as mild.
- What did critics think of Gia?
- Critics broadly praised Angelina Jolie's uninhibited, effective performance in this emotionally intense biographical television drama, while some found its portrait reductive.
- Which films are like Gia?
- Films with a similar feel include The Runaways, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, and I, Tonya.
- How long is Gia?
- Gia runs 120 minutes.
- Where can I watch Gia?
- In United States, Gia streams on HBO Max Amazon Channel, HBO Max.
