J and J Productions: Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby was met with a rather polarizing reception with reviews ranging from "one of the best movies of the year" to "dull and lifeless," but which side is right?

The Great Gatsby is an adaption of the iconic novel of the same name about the extravagant lifestyle of America's rich and prosperous through the eyes of Nick Carraway. The film mostly follows the events of his life around the time when he met the reclusive Jay Gatsby, Nick's neighbor. Being one of the only people in the world that has not read the novel, not knowing much about the film gives a somewhat unique perspective without the positive or negative bias that is almost always associated when watching adaptations. Since several of my favorite movie review blogs like RATH'S REVIEWS and Random Mexican’s Movie Reviews gave the film high ratings, my expectations for the film were somewhat high, and unfortunately the movie turned out to be almost a little disappointing.

The Great Gatsby had some great moments and visuals with Leonardo DiCaprio's reliably excellent performance as Gatsby himself, but the film was all style over substance without properly developed characters. While Gatsby and Carraway are mostly well developed and thought out characters, who are aided by top notch performances, the majority of the other characters are one dimensional. However, the biggest problem with the Great Gatsby is the disinteresting first half. Despite the pretty visuals and fancy camera work, I felt oddly disconnected from the events of the film. Stuff happened, and some of the scenes had great visuals, but at the same time, not much actually happened. Everything is so visually loud that you are left drowning in a sea of colors. The second half is better, even if it was a little sappy and predictable, but at least Gatsby's character is featured more often. Basically, when DiCaprio is not on screen, the film suffers. Since the first half of the film does not have a lot of DiCaprio, it is not nearly as entertaining. The character of Gatsby is, by far, the best aspect of the film. Even though Gatsby is apparently not featured earlier in the book, the lack of his character is nevertheless a negative.

Directed by: Baz Luhrmann
Genre: Period Drama, Drama,
Release Date: May 10, 2013
Running Time: 142 minutes
MMPA rating:

The Good: Some great visuals, Leonardo DiCaprio is always great, Tobey Maguire gives a strong performance, Stronger second half, Entertaining dialect, One memorably humorous scene,

The Bad: Style over substance, Weak supporting characters, Weak supporting cast, Occasionally annoying soundtrack, Weak first half, Suffers without DiCaprio,

Plot: 6.7/10- From a script standpoint, The Great Gatsby has some strong ideas, but the execution is where the film is lacking. The visuals early in the movie dilute the story, and it actually turns out to be kind of boring at times, especially during the first few party scenes. Baz Luhrmann's direction is similar to that of Zack Sndyer in that he is great at the visuals but lacks in the story and character departments.

Acting: 7.3/10- Leonardo DiCaprio is undeniably excellent in the role of Gatsby. Every time he is on screen the film is better. Tobey Maguire is an often underrated actor and he gives his best performance since Spider-Man 2 as Nick Carraway. Seriously though, why do people dislike Toby? He is such a likable guy! As much as I want to like Carey Mulligan since she was in one of the best Doctor Who episodes, "Blink," she gave such a dull and bland performance in the movie. Joel Edgerton gave a decent performance as the jerk archetype character. Most of the other actors in the movie majorly overacted.

Special effects: 7.0/10- Some of the green screen is noticeable, although one would assume that the movie looked better in 3D.

Soundtrack: 5.0/10- The Great Gatsby's soundtrack mostly consists of modern music from the likes of Jay-Z and Lana Del Rey. Putting aside my general disinterest in English modern music, some of tracks were rather good and worked for that particularly scene; however, other songs were majorly distracting and annoying.

Humor: 6.0/10- Despite not being a comedy, one scene in particular added some much needed levity. *Minor Spoiler* When Gatsby meets Daisy for the first time in years is the scene that I am referring to.*End Spoiler*

Overall: 6.8/10- Overall, The Great Gatsby is a good movie, but not a great one. The visuals are excellent and Leonardo DiCaprio is the man, however through the loud music and pretty visuals, the movie lacks substance and well developed characters.

Closing comments: Well Old Sport, The Great Gatsby is a movie that I really wanted to like, and even though it was enjoyable and Leo is a hard guy not to like, I cannot say it was a great movie. Fans of the book will likely find more to like than I did.

Recommended for: Fans of the novel, Drama fans, Leonardo DiCaprio fans,

Below is a review from one of my favorite critics, Jeremy Jahns, where he makes incredibly valid points about the movie that I mostly agree with the exception of his opinion on Toby. Warning however, because there is some strong language that some might find offensive. Normally I would not include this type of content on the blog, but Jahns' review supports mine well.