The Great Gatsby is on the short list of the greatest American novels of all time. It is a stunning portrayal of the highs and lows of the roaring twenties, encapsulating the American dream in its shame and glory. Director Baz Luhrmann elects to remain faithful to the source material, and herein lies the biggest misstep of the film. If the novel is considered a classic, this faithful movie adaptation is considered indifferent at best and a misfire at worst. Film Gatsby is too mediocre to be great.
It is springtime in New York in 1922. Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) has moved to the city to become a bond salesman and grab his slice of American dreams. Nick’s cousins Tom (Joel Edgerton) and Daisy (Carey Mulligan) Buchanan also live near the city and inform Nick that he lives next to a socialite who throws the best party in New York: Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio). As Nick slowly uncovers more about who Jay Gatsby he is, the more he becomes intertwined in these people’s lives than he really wants to be.
Director Luhrmann chooses to tell the story via voiceover from Nick Carraway while he is in a psychiatric hospital, by far the biggest failing of the Great Gatsby due to its lasting repercussions. Show don’t tell is one of the biggest truths in filmmaking; a wide-eyed Nick Carraway at his first Gatsby party can sell all the lavishness, pomp, and circumstance while allowing the audience to connect with the main character. Instead, the voiceover keeps the audience as a voyeur at the party, disconnecting the audience from the main character. The voiceover’s repercussions can be felt throughout the entire film to the point where the director has to put words that Nick is typing on the screen. Only at a foreign film should this be necessary.
Baz Luhrmann is best known for his visual style, and The Great Gatsby would be boring to watch without its style. The wardrobe and colors (despite 3D’s influence) are vivid and enjoyable. The first image of Jay Gatsby (outside of the green light) is probably the best example of Luhrmann’s excessive flair capturing the audience. The portrayal of New York City all the way to the suburbs is richly realized and easily contextualized. If Luhrmann wanted to direct just the first half of The Great Gatsby, the results would be breathtaking, but since the story is so mediocre, any positive gains from the first half of the film are quickly forgotten.
The faithful adaptation is a mixed bag, usually succeeding when visuals are involved. The Green Light and Glasses Billboard are particularly beautiful; if a short were created on the green light appearing in different weather conditions, I would consider buying a ticket. However, the detachment generated by the narration provides no forward momentum for the last hour when the plot starts driving the story. Because the audience feels nothing for the characters, impacts of major plot points are dulled and sometimes indifferent or boring.
As the green light surveyor, Leo DiCaprio does the best he can with the limited view of Jay Gatsby. DiCaprio sells the insecurity of rekindling of his relationship with Daisy very well, but fails to win the audience over and leaves something on the table. Carey Mulligan is not nearly fleshed out enough as Daisy; she comes off shrill and too childish. Tobey Maguire is less a character and more a conduit for the audience to the movie’s world. Joel Edgerton is too over the top to be taken seriously. Isla Fisher and Jason Clarke get nice moment as George and Myrtle Wilson, but aren’t on-screen for more than 10 minutes.
The Great Gatsby is a wasted opportunity: themes of emptiness of the American Dream, optimism vs. obsession, fame, fortune, love, belief could all have been explored had Luhrmann elected to focus on one particular angle. As is, Gatsby is far too broad and obsessed with showing off a huge party that any chance at taking away substance is lost on the audience. The Great Gatsby takes its shining green light and hides it beneath a fog of decadence and character detachment.