Review: ‘The Great Gatsby’

That I’ve never much liked F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel probably makes me a philistine. But the over–privileged characters with their petty problems and concerns didn’t interest me, and when you don’t care about the characters it’s difficult to engage with a story, no matter how well written.

Leaving the theatre after seeing Baz Luhrmann’s extravagant cinematic retelling of the story, I didn’t feel any different. In fact, I felt like I’d murdered 142 minutes and resented Luhrmann for wasting my time.

Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet was a bold and new Shakespeare with hip-hop and other contemporary influences. But now his post-modernist approach to the literary classics is stale, and the constant movement of the camera over hundreds of gyrating, grinding party-goers is just wearying. That said, the production design and overall look of the film is spectacular – I just wish the camera had stayed still long enough for me to admire it. Not to mention that my eyes hurt from the completely pointless 3D.

Amid all this overblown grandeur and lavish set-dressing, finding the actors is difficult. Tobey Maguire as Nick Carraway has so little screen presence he might as well be a part of the furniture. Leonardo DiCaprio gives a solid performance as Gatsby, while Carey Mulligan smiles and pouts and looks impishly pretty as she does in every role she plays.

Overblown, over-marketed and over-long, The Great Gatsby is one of the greatest cinematic disappointments of the year. And did I mention it’s really boring too?

4/10

(and that’s for the set-design as much as anything else)

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