The Great Gatsby Reviewed

The Great Gatsby: Calling it the “Great” Gatsby is a bit of false advertising as this latest adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald is decent at best. The movie tells the story of the mysterious Gatsby who throws outrageous parties – in fact Gatsby’s parties are right up there with Thornton Melon’s from Back to School. He is doing this to catch the attention of his past love Daisy ( Carrie Mulligan) who lives across the bay. They are finally reunited, but can they erase the past enough to have a future together, that is the actual mystery. What had me excited from the time I heard Baz Luhrmann was directing was the lavish party scenes he would bring to life.  However, while they were fun to take in….it was nothing close to the wonder we saw in Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge. The story is told through Gatsby’s next store neighbor Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) who gives a serviceable job. The movie really belongs to DiCaprio who I thought was fantastic as Gatsby and Joel Edgerton who was equally great as Daisy’s husband Tom. The film missed its mark emotionally – I was never drawn in by Daisy and Gatsby’s romance. While I enjoyed watching this classic novel unfold on screen, I found myself wanting to care more about the fate of the characters involved. Great Gatsby? NO – More like Decent Gatsby....

Rythemovieguy’s Grade: 2.5 Jaws

If this movie had parents they would be: Moulin Rouge & The Talented Mr. Ripley