The Great Gatsby 2013

Directed by Baz Luhrmann ("Moulin Rouge!") on a budget of $127 million with distribution from Warner Bros., "The Great Gatsby" is the fifth theatrical adaptation of the 1922 F. Scott Fitzgerald novel of the same name. Originally, the movie's release was planned for Winter of 2012 to coincide with Oscar Season, but it's release was delayed for summer to convert the movie into 3D and to draw in the summer crowd to make back the cost of this conversion. Judging from Luhrmann's track record of going overboard on visual frenetic imagery and the wild parties that were thrown back in the Roaring 20s, you'd think this could be a perfect marriage of the two elements.

The year is 1922, Nick Carraway (Toby McGuire) is a bonds salesman on Wall Street living in run-down servant quarters when he is invited over to his neighbor's fancy mansion for a party held by the mysterious, yet charming Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio). He is surprised to learn that Gatsby use to romance Nick's cousin, Daisy Buchanen (Carey Mulligan), five years ago and has become obsessed with winning her back. But, too bad for him, she's married to a wealthy polo player, Tom Buchanen (Joel Edgerton). The rest of the movie is no surprise if you were made to read the book back in high school like I was.

Let me come clean in saying I find the book to be as dull as KFC mashed potatoes. While I can respect that reader interest differs, I found the novel to be really dull. I came under the impression that the characters' melodramatic problems resemble a soap opera and barely felt realistic to a little ol' cinephile like myself. But that's my issue with the novel; how does Luhrmann's translation onto the silver screen play out? 

Many of the characters, with the exception of Gatsby himself, are rather shallow and feel one-dimensional. Not to say the actors' performances are bad, but the characters they play on the screen come off as superficial as the clothing they wear. The soundtrack is an odd mixture of an original score by Craig Armstrong with some contemporary tracks added into certain scenes. Take for instance several tracks by rapper Jay-Z, who is, by coincidence, an executive producer for the movie. The only thing this soundtrack needed to feel more out of place was Daft Punk or King Crimson.

What Luhrmann does do right however, is what plays to his strengths. Visually, he captures the look of New York during the Roaring Twenties and the frenetic editing works well for the party scenes early in the movie. The costuming is appropriate, DiCaprio manages to win you over with his smiling complexion, and the poetic imagery from the novel is captured nicely, even when other scenes were rewritten for dramatic reasons.

At the end of the day though, the movie is all stars and glitter, but without enough glue to hold it all together. Best advice; wait til DVD and skip the 3D.

Final Rating: 2.5/5