Review of The Great Gatsby (2013) by Evan J — 18 Mar 2016

The Great Gatsby is at its best when it's just characters talking and unfolding F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic story of idealism and excess wealth; unfortunately, that element of the film is often brushed away so Baz Luhrmann can step in with his (ironically) over-indulgent visual style.

The 1920s New York landscape is painfully artificial, and the way Luhrmann chooses to mix Roaring Twenties jazz with modern day rap and hip-hop does little more than pull you out of the movie. Luhrmann's huge amalgamation of clashing ideas is simply too chaotic and bombastic for the more subtle story at hand.

The ensemble cast attempts to redeem the film, and mostly succeeds. Tobey Maguire can be one-note at times, but he does a competent job as our point-of-view of the narrative. Carey Mulligan is commendable as the love interest, and ultimately the source of much of the film's conflict, and Joel Edgerton is delightfully sleazy as Mulligan's husband.

But, unsurprisingly, it's Leonardo DiCaprio who steals the show, as he absolutely nails the many facets of the mysterious titular character. It's a shame these performances, and the story at hand, aren't able to break past Luhrmann's nauseating visuals.

This story is simply too good to be hampered by such poor filmmaking decisions, and it suffers because of them.