The Great Gatsby

 

Baz Luhrmann's take on The Great Gatsby is sure to be one of the more polarizing movies of the summer, if not of 2013 in general.  It's not that it's an unfaithful adaptation of the classic novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, it's that the story is almost drowned out by the extreme amount of excess that Luhrmann has used to tell it.  There's not a single moment of this film that's not trying to impress us, or wow us visually.  It's overbearing in the worst way.  And then, just to make sure the filmmakers have checked off every item on their "overblown movie" list, they decided to reshoot the whole thing in 3D. (The movie was supposed to come out last Christmas, but was pushed back so it could receive an unnecessary 3D transfer.)

Maybe I should have expected this.  Anyone who has seen one of Luhrmann's films knows that the guy is not exactly familiar with subtlety.  Here, he seems to be trying to recapture the success he had with his 2001 musical, Moulin Rouge, with its garishness, special effects, modern musical numbers set in a time of the past (in this case, it's 1922, and the soundtrack is filled with rap and dance music), and overall go for broke style.  The thing is, that kind of stuff worked in Moulin Rouge, because that was a romantic musical fantasy.  Fitzgerald's story is supposed to be set in the real world, and these elements come across as being distracting instead of clever here.  It also doesn't help that this is a largely dry adaptation.  We feel nothing for these characters.  The glitzy musical and dance scenes, the endless CG effects used to recreate 1920s New York, and the flashy editing, sets and costumes are all impressive on their own.  But when paired up with this largely soulless and overall emotionally cold take on a classic story, you feel like Luhrmann is trying to hide the fact there's not much going on here.

The film opens with a framing device, featuring Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) writing down his story while in a sanitarium.  Not only does this added plot device not go anywhere, it's completely unnecessary.  This leads us into the main story, where Nick arrives in New York in 1922 in order to make a living in the booming stock trade.  He is quickly reunited with his cousin, Daisy (Carey Mulligan), and her husband Tom (Joel Edgerton, who plays the role as if he were a villain in a melodrama).  Nick moves into a modest home, which just so happens to be next door to the massive mansion belonging to the mysterious and reclusive millionaire, Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio).  The man is seldom seen (except for brief fleeting glimpses from a window in his mansion), but he throws lavish parties every weekend.  It's through these parties that Nick is introduced to Gatsby, who quickly builds a friendship with the young man.  Eventually, Gatsby's motives for seeking Nick out becomes clear - He was once romantically involved with Daisy, and he wishes to meet her, so they can rekindle the love they once had for each other.

The Great Gatsby essentially tells the same story as the novel, only in such a way that it never grabs us.  The pacing is erratic, with some scenes bouncing with so much energy that the movie starts to resemble a live action cartoon at times, while in other scenes, everything slows down to a deadly dull crawl.  With a running time of nearly two and a half hours, the on-and-off style of the pacing eventually becomes quite the endurance test.  The movie is constantly trying to grab our attention with glitter, special effects, out-of-place modern day music, editing and camera tricks, and overly-stylized flash.  It's a hollow spectacle, to be sure, because nothing resonates.  Not the characters, not their relationships, and certainly not the dialogue, even the passages that are lifted directly from Fitzgerald.  The scenes between Gatsby and Daisy are supposed to be filled with passion, but lack any feeling.  Nick is mainly an observer, and never really gets involved in the action.  And what little emotion the characters do manage to generate are fighting a losing battle against the assault on our senses that's going on around them.

I don't really blame the actors, as they're obviously doing the best with what they've been given.  While this is certainly not the best work DiCaprio has ever done, he at least looks the part of Gatsby, and brings the right essence of charm and aloofness to the character.  However, just like everyone else who walks into this movie, he's overcome by the amount of big budget excess that's swirling all around him.  The performances simply cannot compete.  Carey Mulligan's Daisy ends up being a bore, because there's just nothing that really stands out about her in the entire film.  And the only noteworthy thing about Tobey Maguire is that he doesn't look all that much older than when he did the original Spider-Man movie 11 years ago.  It's bad enough that the heart and soul of the story has to be drowned out by the $100+ million budget, but so do the performances.  I constantly felt like I was watching actors cast adrift in a production that went out of control.

 

The Great Gatsby ends up being as big of a miscalculation as anyone could probably make in adapting the story to the big screen.  While the themes and the power of the story are still there in some form, they are simply dwarfed by everything else competing for our attention.  I'm just glad I didn't end up seeing this movie in 3D.  Not only is there nothing in this movie that would benefit from wearing those stupid glasses, but the last thing this film needs is yet another pointless distraction.

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