Review of The Great Gatsby (2013) by Stella W — 09 Jan 2016

Prettier-than-life CGI effects aren't enough to get me to sit through a movie and it didn't work with Moulin Rouge. DiCaprio's acting chops are what enabled me to sit through this one. Fitzgerald wrote the character as a bit of a cipher but somehow DiCaprio manages to flesh him out.

The music, as we all know, doesn't fit the period. I really don't care what kind of parallels Luhrmann claims he was trying to draw. (I think he was just going for the almighty dollar.) It's jolting, ruined my immersion in the period and won't age well. (think of all that MOR 80's pop in Dirty Dancing - pretty absurd in hindsight, isn't it?).

The mental institution idea was inferred, but not plainly stated, in another of Fitzgerald's stories (NOT Gatsby) and I don't see it as necessary here. It's just pandering to the puritanical crowd: "Look where hanging out at parties will get you, kids!" And Tobey Maguire doesn't really get Nick across - every time he was onscreen I thought "Spiderman", this didn't happen with any of the other players that I've seen in other movies. Daisy was adequate, but being based on Zelda I'd have liked to see a more dazzling, maybe slightly outrageous Daisy. Elizabeth Debicki's Jordan Baker stands out more, has more presence, and that shouldn't be the case.

The costumes were wonderful. The makeup was OK, but like most period movies, this one got the womens' eyebrows all wrong. All in all, I was entertained, but this could have been so much better than it was.