The Great Gatsby (2013)

3/5

Baz Luhrman's "The Great Gatsby" is a colorful adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's magnum opus. While colorful in the right dose can be wonderful and vibrant and make the film come alive, Luhrman had decided to overdose the audience in his love of flashy exuberance.

Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) has moved into a small groundskeepers shack in West Egg on Long Island, a retreat for the new money of the booming 20's. He is cousin to Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan), the wife of old money Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton). Nick's mysterious neighbor, Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) throws many lavish parties during the summer. One day Nick receives an invitation to one of Gatsby's upcoming affairs. At the party he finally meets Gatsby and the two soon become friends. However, Gatsby has a favor to ask of Nick: Reunite him with the love that he lost five year prior, Daisy. Nick struggles with the idea of putting Daisy's marriage at risk, but there is something about this Gatsby that he just can't refuse. Maybe it's hope.

You know a movie is really fantastic when you forget that it is exactly that, a movie. All films should strive for this feeling, yet "The Great Gatsby" makes a habit of pulling you out of the story. Luhrman may have thought that putting Beyonce and Jay-Z into the soundtrack was hip or stylish or that it drew a parallel between the mindset of the partygoers of the 20's and the people you meet in a nightclub, but it really just makes the film much too chaotic. In it's quiet moments, when the stars are allowed to shine, they really do a pretty good job. Leonardo DiCaprio is the highlight of the whole show, but I'd also like to point the spotlight at the biggest surprise this film had and that is Elizabeth Debicki as Jordan Baker. She is utterly fantastic and steals every scene she is in. I see big things for her in the near future. If I had to say anything about this movie it is this: It's an improvement over the 1974 Robert Redford Gatsby. But not much of one.