Oh good god. This film tries to be a bit Titanic, it even tries to be a bit Age of Innocence, but in the end it mainly resembles Sophia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette mess with its pumping-wrong-hip-hop soundtrack and worse than all of it – 3D! Undoubtedly F.Scott and Zelda are rolling in their Rockville, Maryland graves! And it ain’t from Jay-Z and Beyonce’s soundtrack! Or the 2 hours and 20 minute film length. The entire mess is just criminal!
Nick (Tobey Maguire) narrates and stars in a story that finds him stuck between the romance of his cousin Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan) and Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio). Maguire is the best thing IN the film and it’s only because he’s his usual A-sexual self. Nick’s story opens in an insane asylum which makes his tale instantly lack any credibility but that’s okay…we go with it. But the 3D? Why must every film have this unnecessary crutch? – detracts from the value of the roaring twenties and the tender return home from war. Instead the tale is about Wall Street-wannabe Nick’s fascination with his millionaire neighbor.
It’s clear the story tries to find a younger night club-partying-materialistic audience by making the film about money and mo’ money. We don’t care about these people and their lack-of class structure. We don’t care about the romance either. Instead the 3D adds a morbid fascination to what could have been the next great love story. So sad real love stories don’t sell anymore.
While the film settles in at about the 40 minute mark, one still can’t be sure just what this movie is trying to be. But then again, the only reason it semi-worked is its as unusual as it’s director, Baz Moulin Rouge Luhrmann who has his signature style all over it. And this one screams Art Deco gone wrong! In the end, sadly all of Gatsby’s money can’t buy him happiness or a good movie review. ♔ ♕