The Great Gatsby (Movie Review)

The hype for a movie like The Great Gatsby is not only huge but it gets a little bit annoying since a lot of the people who talk about it are either gay or girls. But it makes you believe that Baz Lurhman will do wonders visually because of his resume with Moulin Rouge and he certainly didn’t disappoint. Anyone who read the book will know that F Scott Fitzgerald leaves no bar to the imagination, the clothes are extravagant and the parties are vibrant to a point that it makes you want to re-create them. It’s set in a fictional town of Egg Ham, Long Island New York of the 1920’s, promises of a new freedom, liquor abolition banned from existence, money comes pouring in Wall Street and the social scene is a feast for the eyes but with all the thrills and the flairs at their party, namely hosted by none other than, The Great Gatsby, Jay is his other name and is played by Leonard Di Caprio.

If you’ve read the book, it would be a bit disappointing because like all adaptation movies, they might not highlight the visual, scene or dialogue that you revered in the book. This movie version literally steals the glory of all the love lost sad stories that were ever made. The effects are thrilling though the dance movies like the shimmey looks a little bit uneasy, maybe it’s because we hardly see those moves in fair print. The bootleggers, which Gatsby is one of, seem to enjoy their money while an innocent Yale graduate Nikki played by the ever young looking Tobey Maguire narrated the whole thing. Daisy is a bitch, a flapper, and a “pretty dumb bitch” while her wardrobe choices means a love tale for fashion lovers. She speaks with this ease yet with a lot of fragility; it just makes you want to take care of her but fuck the hell out of her later, for straight men at least.

Some of the characters are unintentionally funny at times, with their suave 20’s accent, all the sex, the booze and the drugs. Mytrle played by Isla Fisher comes off as funny but a bit stupid and yes, you feel so sorry for her. Most of the air pan and New York scenes are works of CGI but it’s hard to tell with Lurhman’s color filters and effects. Lana Del Rey croons “Will you still love me when I’m not longer young and beautiful?” when appropriate and that song, with lines like “Hot summer nights, mid July, when you and I were forever wild” during a scene of fun and reunion with Gatsby and Daisy just takes you deep into the love, sex and infatuation of it all.  The funny thing about this movie is Amitabh Bachan, plays a Jewish character, whose screen time equals about 5 minutes, mega LOL milestone because they shamelessly market The Great Gatsby here in India as starring Amitabh Bahchan, which to me is not even hilarious but plain down stupid (I don't really like Bollywood stars anyway). However, if you go to watch the movie with your literary hopes you might be disappointed. This movie version of The Great Gatsby is best enjoyed for people who haven’t read the book.