I pride myself in liking all types of movies. In my mind, I hold very few biases in regard to artistic vision as I admire the act of creation. So i am surprising myself as i call the latest interpretation of F Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby a complete pile of garbage. This is one of the worst movies that I have seen in recent memory. I have no great love for the original work of F Scott Fitzgerald, so I have no purist’s bias when I watched this film. While I respect The Great Gatsby for the great American novel that it is, i went into this film with a relatively open mind. I will admit that I find the director Baz Luhrmann underwhelming in the extreme, but I was excited by the talent in the movie and looked forward to a modern and artistic interpretation of the film.
This film is what I hate most in artistic vision; style over substance. This entire film is an exercise in self gratification. It’s gaudy, loud, and tries to be edgy just for the sake of being edgy. Baz Luhrmann creates a vision that seeks to impress through the fabulousness of his visual canvas as opposed to trying to tell a decent story. The characters are there only to have something to hang the visual party he is trying to throw. I find it all the more frustrating as I felt several of the actors gave some pretty impressive performances.
Leonardo takes on the title role of Gatsby with the dash and charm required. He faltered a bit in 1920’s mannerisms and his overuse of the term ‘Old Sport’ when addressing anyone. Carey Mulligan was flawless as the pure yet conflicted Daisy Buchanan. I didn’t even mind the miscast Tobey McGuire as the narrator Nick Carraway. What I did mind were these great performances taking a back seat to a Director’s need to impress himself with empty stylism.
Fitzgerald’s story of The Great Gatsby is an American success story whose warnings still hold true and relevant today. It’s a worthy story for film adaption, even a modern adaption. Gatsby’s story of a self made man who goes from rags to riches is quintessentially american. A man whose same passions and drives ultimately prove his undoing is also a quintessential american cautionary tale. Throughout this entire movie I found myself trying to wade through the glitz and wipe away the excessive glamour in order to see this story. Unfortunately, like aVolkswagon Beetle’s windshield wipers trying to compete with a torrential rain, it was a futile effort. There was just too much distraction to appreciate any type of story that was trying to be conveyed.
I’m not going to recap the story as most anyone who took High School literature is familiar with it. I’ll just say that this is not a respectable attempt to retell an American classic. I want to know how Baz Luhrmann keeps getting work in film. His level of artistic vision are better suited to a Calvin Klein commercial than a full length feature film. I would implore everyone to stop buying tickets to his films because this man needs to be stopped.
I give this film * star
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