The Great Gatsby Review
Love it or hate it, Gatsby throws the wildest party in town...old sport.
Do you know about Gatsby? That mysteriously eccentric fellow who lives up in West Egg? Chances are that if you completed 11th grade English, you do. But the real question is whether you have met BAZ LUHRMANN’S Gatsby. I will come right out and say it. I love the novel The Great Gatsby. Of all the books I was required to read in high school (and probably college for that matter), F. Scott Fitzgerald’s succinct masterpiece of the Jazz Age was my favorite. It is one of the few grade school classics that I have revisited several times and plan to likely do again. It also has the lofty literary pedigree of being “unfilmable.” However, that reputation may have been earned simply because the 1974 iteration of the story (and only major adaptation until now) is truly unwatchable. Some have waited decades for a film to capture the depth and speakeasy wonders of that book and its era. Yet, from this decadent 3D extravaganza’s earliest salvo teaser, featuring music by Jay-Z and U2, I knew that that was not what we were getting. Baz Luhrmann, cinematic genius, madman or all of the above, lovingly adapted the novel to match his own frantically fabulous sensibilities. And whether his cultural collage of roaring ’20s opulence works will swing wildly from individual to individual.
Ultimately though, as great as the whole cast truly is, this is a movie that thrives on the energy of its setting and the absurdity of our own. It has a ludicrous style that will not appeal to everyone, especially those looking for an adaptation as masterful and emotionally nuanced as its literary heritage. I do not know if such a movie can ever exist, but I knew walking in that this was a Baz Luhrmann experience for our age and no other. It will not ensnare those who view the source material under three feet of museum plated glass, but that sort of hagiography can only lead to earnest snoozers like the 1974 film. This movie prevails on an intoxicatingly vivacious energy that is uniquely and wholly its own. To which I say: Well done, old sport. Den of Geek Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Stars