Flawed casting.

Rating: 6/10 (3 August 2013)

Redford and Farrow was ultimately a much more satisfactory combination than the two leads in this remake.
DiCaprio is quite good as the driven Gatsby but Mulligan does not have the charisma or incredible beauty of Farrow. This means that the obsession of Gatsby for Mulligan's character seems rather unlikely to say the least.
The party scenes while undoubtedly visually impressive are ultimately far too overblown and again add a sense of unreality to the story. Tobey Maguire was unremarkable and not particularly sympathetic which again did not help.
It isn't a bad film, the essential storyline still holds some interest and the plot is excellent (as it should be given the source material) but the above flaws prevented the film from being anything special.
This version suggests that certain films are better left alone. The Redford Gatsby was already superb and there was no need to do it again.