It is unfortunate because it’s a movie with an excellent cast. I particularly like Tobey Maguire in the role of Nick Carraway, as he brings a new dimension to the once detached, simply observing, seemingly naive and balanced Carraway, with a constant budding smile on his face, as if he were always in accord with everyone.
Leonardo DiCaprio excels as usual, though I can’t help but think that he is alway just a tad short from the perfect performance, and it shows here—probably due to the acting being at the expense of the filming. I wonder if Baz Luhrmann doesn’t give more importance to the photography than the directing. It feels also too choreographed as in an attempt to recapture the success of Moulin Rouge. One example is seen with the “Mad” musician Klipspringer’s over-the-top craziness portrayal, certainly true to the era but so clownish and weird. The same applies to the costumes, although beautiful, but much more fitting for a burlesque show than actual clothes the partygoers wore in the twenties. Even the cars get the same pastiche treatment of speeding, swerving, rocking, dipping and bumping up and down in the name of “fun-time.”
Wikipedia cites: "The Great Gatsby received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives a rating of 48%, based on 257 reviews, with an average rating of 5.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, 'While certainly ambitious—and every bit as visually dazzling as one might expect—Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby emphasizes visual splendor at the expense of its source material's vibrant heart.' Metacritic gives the film a score of 55 out of 100, based on 45 critics, indicating 'mixed or average reviews.'"
On a positive note, the female dancers and partygoers are well diversified. The club dancers were "curvy-licious" with a mix of African-American entertainers, which after all, were the staple of the Jazz influence, and it makes for a truer depiction of the era that isn’t present in Jack Clayton’s 1974 adaptation of the novel.
In conclusion, I was disappointed. The movie opens up with lots of visual splendor and performance pro-mises, but it dips in the story.
I give this movie a 3 out of 5 stars.
41 | Ceres Magazine | Oct/Nov 2015
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by Al Mohymont