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| Gatsby : Fool |
What's it about? In the summer of 1922, Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) moves to New York to make his fortune and rents a house in Long Island, next door to the fabulous mansion of the mysterious, ultra-rich Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio). Across the bay lives Nick's married cousin Daisy (Carey Mulligan), with whom Gatsby has some unfinished business. He loves her, you see. The fool!
Is it any good? In my younger and more vulnerable years I read
The Great Gatsby
and found it rather dull. Watching this, I felt myself
borne bored back ceaselessly into the past, as that ho-hum feeling crept over me once again. What's all the fuss about this bloody Gatsby bloke anyway? This is yet another underwhelming movie adaptation of the book - maybe that tells us something?Anyway, it's not that it's terrible or badly made. DiCaprio is excellent as Gatsby, and Luhrmann has used the best part of the $100m budget to jazz it up with some typically fetching visuals and party scenes, often accompanied by a soundtrack which blends Jazz Age tunes with modern tracks. However, behind that glossy facade lies a distinct hollowness, which is actually rather apt for the story being told - maybe it's
deliberately hollow? A particularly poor element is the clunky framing device, to establish Carraway as the Narrator, which is poorly developed and not helped by Maguire's insipid performance. And you know what? This Daisy chick really isn't worth it. As a result, it's hard to keep interested and personally The Great Gatsby was dangerously close to being The Great Nap-sy for me. Cool cars, though - I used to drive one just like that when I lived in Long Island in the '20s.
I don't trust you. What do others think? Here's a handy flowchart to help you understand what The Great Gatsby is about.
Anything else I should know? Can't be arsed reading the book, or watching the film. Here's a summary. SPOILERS!
What does the Fonz think? Beautiful, but Damned dull, Old Sport.
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