The Great Gatsby
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, Isla Fisher
Directed By: Baz Luhrmann
Reviewed by Danielle Muir
[rating: 2/5]
After three brilliant trailers and more hype than the presidential election, Luhrmann’s interpretation of literary classic The Great Gatsby has finally hit screens – to a cavalcade of criticisms. Having seen the film myself, I can safely say these are warranted.
As with all of his works, The Great Gatsby is incredibly visceral. We soar gratuitously through Gatsby’s mansion and the culture that is 1920’s Long Island – as people drink, smoke and mask their true desires with jewellery and illustrious wealth. The women drip with diamonds and the men with pride. If nothing else, Baz has done a good job of translating this old-style party tone well, although the colours can be nauseatingly vivid.
What doesn’t translate is any sort of care for the characters – not your personal connection with them, nor their own. I suppose that’s bound to happen when you have a waif as infuriating as Daisy (Mulligan) at the forefront. But let’s start at the beginning and I’ll elaborate on why I felt no emotion whilst watching the allegedly Great Gatsby.
The doe-eyed, meek Nick Carraway (Maguire at his usual) comes across the country to finally crack it as a stock broker in the big city. Turns out his little cottage smack bang next to the elusive Gatsby –a much gossiped figure who throws lavish parties (yes, the party scenes are spectacular) every weekend. Soon, Nick and Gatsby become friends, where we learn that Gatsby is vying for the once his Daisy – who’s now married to the unscrupulous Tom Buchanan. The men are cheating, Daisy’s an airhead, Nick gets tossed to the side for a love affair that seems as forced as the uber-hip soundtrack and nobody really proves themselves worthy of caring for.
All the beautiful set design in the world cannot mask the fact that Gatsby and Daisy have no chemistry. One is painfully proper with lashings of selfishness, the other is a flake who falls in love and is constantly manipulated by the men around her. Neither are likeable, nor does the script attempt to forge any real connection between them. Instead we’re meant to be satiated with a sugar-puff flashback of Daisy and Gatsby meeting for the first time and doing the deed. Not. Enough.
Not to mention the failure to tie up or meet expectations with their plotlines. For example – there’s a mass build-up throughout (with Gatsby making terse phone calls and dealing with suspicious folk) that Gatsby is involved in something shocking or decrepit – instead they brazenly brush over the reveal about three-quarters through.
I’m usually a fan of Baz’s work but in this case it really is all style no substance. I didn’t feel any emotion when I watched it, and I left the cinema indifferent.
