Review of The Great Gatsby (2013) by Eero V — 28 Dec 2014

Though Jack Clayton's 1974 adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's legendary novel was dragging and dull, it now earns much more respect when compared to Baz Luhrmann's abomination. Luhrmann's "The Great Gatsby" is full of the director's trademarks which have divided audiences: flagrant and flashy visuals, over-the-top costume design and hasty editing.

But while Moulin Rouge!, for example, still had some sense of guilty pleasure in it, this time all the bombast and eye candy get truly nerve-racking during the very first minutes of the film. Fitzgerald's novel is a timeless tragedy full of profound and thought-provoking themes, but Luhrmann has sacrificed all the heart and emotion of the story for the sake of glamour and visual artifice.

When all the visual fireworks are encrusted with a soundtrack full of repugnant R&B and hip hop (produced by Jay-Z), you have a catastrophe, plain and simple. Luhrmann has basically taken a classic love story that said something truly significant and important about human nature, and turned it into a music video.

It is entirely possible that he has just wanted to translate it to modern and younger audiences, but if so, his perception of what contemporary moviegoers want from a film is thoroughly offensive. Leonardo DiCaprio does his best in the title role, though he still looks like a teenage boy and his pronunciation of Gatsby's classic phrase "old sport" sounds more like "old spore", and Joel Edgerton is suitably intimidating and hammy as Tom Buchanan, outclassing Bruce Dern's clumsy performance in Clayton's version.

Carey Mulligan, however, is mainly an ornament in the role of Daisy, and Tobey Maguire is incredibly flimsy as Nick Carraway. It may be easy to say that Luhrmann's film is style over substance, but this time the word "substance" shouldn't even be used in the same sentence.

F. Scott Fitzgerald rolls in his grave.