The Great Gatsby (2013)

Title: The Great Gatsby

Release Date: May 10th, 2013

Director: Baz Luhrmann

Writer:  Fitzgerald (book), Luhrmann/Pierce(screenplay)

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Michelle Williams

Genre: Drama, Romance

        

                    I'm glad I'm starting with this one so I can jump right back into the cynical/jaded mindset. So, to justify how hard I'm about to hate on this movie, I'll just say that I really like this book, I really like most of these actors, I love this director (also did Moulin Rouge and Romeo + Juliet), and I just all around had super high hopes for this film. And lets just say halfway through the movie (I saw it in theaters) I was checking my watch. The escapist in me was groaning with boredom.

                Let's start with the really bad and move up from there. To be fair, it was filmed to be seen in 3-D and I saw it in regular old 2-D so the next few complaints might be a little bias, but whatever. It was painfully dizzying. Not in a romantic way, but in a blurry I'm-gonna-be-sick type way. It was embarrassing and really disappointing to see some of the nice shots they had ruined by stupid gimmicky pop out at you transitions. The opening sequence was incredibly overdone in a CGI way. I was ready to call it a day 15 minutes in.

                Another ridiculously dumb and amateur thing they threw in there were these word graphics. Carraway (Maguire) was supposed to be typing and writing this story as it was told, so they would have these handwriting montages that just came off as super History Channel to me. It was awkward to watch. And the last thing I really hated was that sometimes they sacrificed flow and graceful dialogue just to use super direct quotes from the book. They all ended up coming off stiff and out of context.

                 Now, finally what I enjoyed about the film. I was very beautiful. Asthetic-wise, the film was very aware of itself and whatever was shown was meant to be where it was. Also, I thought there choice of music was pretty innovative (considering Jay-Z was a producer and had a hand in it) and the use of subtle humor in a lot of scenes was nice.

I give this film a 4 out of 10 stars.