THE GREAT GATSBY
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan
Directed by Baz Luhrmann
As Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) anxiously awaits his reunion with Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan), he realizes that hes assembled a veritable botanical garden for his ex-lover when a single rose wouldve sufficed. As he laughs in embarrassment, the audience cant help but join him, relieved that Baz Luhrmanns film has finally acknowledged its excess.
Savour this moment as its the only instance offering any such self-awareness. Otherwise, Luhrmanns vacuous take on F. Scott Fitzgeralds novel is too busy ogling the Jazz Age opulence to view it in any sort of critical light.
Our guide into this gilded world is one of literatures preeminent third wheels: Nick Caraway (Tobey Maguire, on wide-eyed autopilot). Having taken up residence in a modest cabin on Long Island, he becomes fascinated with Gatsbys mansion that looms next door. In turn, the self-made man takes a keen interest in Nick, seeing him as a potential liaison to Daisy (with whom he attended college). And so it is that the humble Midwesterner is invited inside the sprawling sanctum where revellers cavort nightly and anachronistically to Jay-Z.
While these over-the-top sequences should see Luhrmann excel, their busyness barely conceals their lack of invention. At best, they feel like forgettable Heineken commercials. Supposedly a visual stylist, the director lacks a unifying aesthetic. More troublingly, he demonstrates no aptitude for drama, leaving an enviable cast with little to do other than pose and pull faces. Ultimately, Luhrmanns Gatsby feels more like an adaptation of a slapdash collage of magazine clippings: glossy, flimsy, and lacking even a trace of depth.
