The Great Gatsby is a novel that I read when I was in high school, so it has been at least five years since I visited F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel. I remember not being overly impressed with the story as I found it sort of vapid and uninteresting. However, after seeing this film I definitely want to read it again. Without question I was too young to understand some of the more interesting thematic material (and I probably will understand it more and more as I get older) that is imbedded in the story. The Great Gatsby, as a movie, works much better than I had expected it too and I personally think this is the best film version yet. Much of the thematic depth is present in the movie and it is certainly a gorgeous and awe-inspiring movie to look at. Still, it is a problematic film in a number of ways which holds it back from being truly great.
The Great Gatsby begins with Nick Carraway (played by a surprisingly good Tobey Maguire) heading to New York City where he plans on studying Wall Street business while working as a bond salesman. His dedication to his studies quickly subsides when he is pulled into the party scene in New York City where he develops a taste for alcohol. Nick chose to move to this area partially because his cousin Daisy (Carrey Mulligan) and her husband Tom (Joel Edgerton) live close by. It doesn’t take Nick long to hear about the mysterious Gatsby, who owns an enormous mansion next door that is used for throwing insane parties almost nightly. Before too long, Nick gets involved with Gatsby and begins to learn about the man’s past as well as his intentions. The premise of the movie is a lot of fun and actually has quite a bit to say (especially near the end). I found the film to be a bit too long, but I have a hard time truly picking parts that could have been left out. I think that this is part of the difficulty in making a film version of this story: parts of it simply don’t translate onto the screen very well.
Still, for the most part The Great Gatsby is a lot of fun. Fans of director Baz Luhrmann’s movies (who directed Moulin Rouge! and Australia) will find the first act of the film very familiar in style. To put it simply, this movie has an absolutely chaotic and flamboyant opening act. Luhrmann holds nothing back at all as he throws as many colorful outfits, graffiti, elaborate stages, and dancing girls at the screen as he possibly can. Characters in these opening scenes seem to be overly enthusiastic about everything and each emotion is played up to 200 percent. While some people will definitely be turned off by Luhrmann’s style, others will find it delightful and entertaining. I personally found it to be shockingly fun to watch and I was immediately sucked into the world while the film’s pace slows down and offers more substance near the end. The only thing about Luhrmann’s style that bothered me in The Great Gatsby is his choice of music. Since this story is set in the 1920s, it is simply painful to hear rap music thrown in during certain moments. I’ve read a number of explanations why they chose to include rap music in this film, but none of them seem convincing to me and it feels painfully tacked on. Fortunately, the strange use of modern music is quite minimal and is actually non-diegetic.
All of the performances in The Great Gatsby are fitting, with just a few exceptions. First of all, it should be no surprise that Gatsby is played by Leonardo DiCaprio. DiCaprio is an actor that most movie fans have come to expect great things from, and he doesn’t disappoint in the slightest. He steals every scene he is in and his character requires a wide range of emotions to be portrayed. DiCaprio nails every last moment and I believe he deserves another Oscar nomination for Best Actor for this performance. Tobey Maguire gives a surprisingly strong performance and for the first time in a long time I felt he wasn’t miscast in a major role (although I’ve read some reviews that disagree). Joel Edgerton is pretty good as well, although his character isn’t explored deeply enough to give him a chance to really impress. And the only “weak link” in this movie was Carrey Mulligan as Daisy. She wasn’t bad in any explicit way, but she was just too simple and one-dimensional. Maybe that’s just how her character is supposed to be, but I found it hard to feel for her character as a result. All in all, each actor is either great or good enough in The Great Gatsby to make the entire story believable and relatable. As with Luhrmann’s other films, I disagree with the reviews that claim this movie is emotionally hollow. This can be attributed in a big way to the ensemble of good actors in the movie.
The Great Gatsby turned out to be a lot of fun. When the full length trailer was first released I was not excited in the slightest. It looked simply too bombastic, too full of strangely matched music, and too melodramatic for my taste. Luckily everything came together (for the most part) in the finished product. Luhrmann knows when enough is enough with his over-the-top style, and The Great Gatsby gets serious just in time. Also, I didn’t mention it before but I saw this in 3D and I can’t encourage fans of the format enough to see The Great Gatsby in 3D. The visual style of this film quite literally pops in 3D. If you don’t like 3D (you know who you are) this will still look great without the added depth.
While the movie has a bit of trouble fully finding its feet after the halfway mark and drags as a result, the performances and style make it worth sitting through. If only Luhrmann would have been able to nail down every bit with all of the talent he had to work with throughout the entire film, this would have been a masterpiece. If only he decided to cut the horrid use of rap music from the final product, maybe the entire movie would seem more coherent as a whole (by the way, I don’t mind rap music, I just think it does not fit in this film at all). Unfortunately, all of the visual flair and good performances in the world can’t hide some of the problems that this movie has. Still, I have to rate The Great Gatsby significantly higher than I thought I would (and higher than most critics have). Perhaps it is a guilty pleasure, or perhaps I just love Luhrmann’s style, but The Great Gatsby won me over by the end.
8/10
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