Too long, too stupid and too boring!

Rating: 5/10 (27 July 2014)

Sorry folks, but, after all the hype about The Great Gatsby - including the fact that it is based on what has always been in my mind as classic literature (although I have never read the book), I was very disappointed. F Scott Fitzgerald is said to have been inspired by lavish Long Island parties he attended and, whilst I have no doubt that there were some lavish lifestyles in the aftermath of the First World War, I cannot imagine anything like the parties that Jay Gatsby laid on for people he didn't even know. The sad thing was that those parties weren't even enjoyable - or, should I say, I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere near one! They were laden with loathsome "would be if they could be" social climbers. So, for the first part of the movie, I found my skin creeping in disgust - and I don't watch movies for that effect!
Leonardo diCaprio and Tobey Maguire were the consummate professional actors that they usually are and it certainly isn't their fault that this movie is, in a word, boring. Whilst I have seen Carey Mulligan in Brothers, I don't really remember her. Maybe that's because she isn't memorable and there are dozens of better-known actresses that could have played Daisy Buchanan a lot better. The real star of the movie was the beautiful yellow car!
Sorry Baz, but I can't enthuse about Gatsby even though I'm Australian!