A Lesson in How to Ruin Classic Literature

Rating: 4/10 (20 August 2013)

For those unfamiliar with F. Scott Fitzgerald's magnum opus, The Great Gatsby is set after the first World War in the summer of 1922. Nick Carraway tells the tale of how he came to know his neighbor and friend, Jay Gatsby. The novel paints a perfect picture of that era, exploring themes of social status, wealth, decadence, obsession, greed, morality and the pride of the people of that time. The novel is a study of high society and has been said to be a cautionary tale of the American dream. The core of the story is about love, hope and ambition. The film is able to get that much across, if nothing else.
Tobey Maguire plays Nick Carraway, a Yale graduate who works in New York as a bond salesman. He lives next door to the mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, who hosts New York's most extravagant parties. Nick spend his free time with his college buddy, Tom Buchanan, played by Joel Edgerton, and his wife, Daisy, played by Carey Mulligan, who is also Nick's cousin. Nick receives an invitation to attend one of his neighbor's famous parties and immediately finds a great friend in Gatsby. It doesn't take long before Gatsby begins to reveal his secrets to Nick, who soon finds himself in a very complicated situation involving his new friend and his cousin Daisy.
Instead of doing justice to the novel, director Baz Luhrmann seems more interested in re-creating the magic of his past films in 3D. The first act plays out like someone on a dangerous amount of cocaine is speed reading the novel to us while slipping LSD into our beverage or popcorn. It's made clear that Baz Luhrmann is one of the few directors who actually has fun with the 3D gimmick, though it's hard to think of a worse novel to do this with. Luhrmann's usual over-the-top comic touches are present but it's never been so out-of-place. Thankfully, like his other work, the feeling as if the film is being played in fast-forward slowly dies down when we get to the source material's key scenes.
Tobey Maguire and Leonardo DiCaprio are perfect in their roles, in fact all the performances are excellent and the costumes are worthy of attention, but everything else with this film is wrong. Like The Hobbit, it has a bright, colorful cartoon look, void of darkness or grit. The vivid colors are nothing short of eye-candy but the picture is so clear it's horribly obvious when the actors are standing in front of a green screen. It becomes a distraction reminding us we are only watching a film, nothing is real and therefore there's no need to invest any emotional attachment to the story or it's characters. This is suppose to be 1922, yet instead of using jazz, which is like it's own character in the novel, we get hip-hop and irritatingly happy pop music that will annoy lovers of the novel right out of the theater. It's down right offensive to the source material. This is a perfect example of how to ruin classic literature. Make all your shots reliant that the audience is watching the film in 3D, make the visuals so crisp, clear and colorful, it feels like a fantasy instead of a period piece, and add a modern score made up of over-played music everyone is sick of hearing.
While it could be said there's not much difference between this and Luhrmann's adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, there are quite a few key differences when it comes to the source material. William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is a stage play, written in a way in which it is left open to be interpreted and adapted as the director pleases. The Great Gatsby is a novel with great description that delivers a very serious message while capturing the spirit that was Long Island, New York, 1922. Romeo and Juliet had a heart-breaking soundtrack perfect for a modern re-imagining of the story and no matter how ridiculous the images got or silly the supporting characters acted, the story was grounded by the very real, heart-felt love story that blossomed out of the carefully crafted interactions between Claire Danes and DiCaprio. Somehow, despite all the bad decisions made by the director, the tragic love story that is Romeo and Juliet prevailed and shone through. It's not until the very end of Gatsby that the novel begins to shine through the film. While Luhrmann may have gotten the ending right, it's far too late for us to give any respect to his adaptation.
The Great Gatsby is a novel that goes into depth exploring a very real time and place that should be brought to life with respect, not with endless cheap tricks and gimmicks to lure younger audiences into the theater.