Trey: 2/5
Well Old Sport, This movie was not what I was expecting. As someone who hasn't read the book nothing about it impressed me. My biggest complaint Baz Lurhmann's style over substance approach gets old and as lavish as it is for 2 hours and 20 minutes. I wanted to hit my head against a wall about an hour in. If I could describe this film in one word I would say distracting (I will explain below)
Suzanne: 2.5 out of 5
I didn't read the book before I saw this movie and I feel that I should have. Normally I would say don't read books before the movie because usually the book is way better and the movie just disappoints you. I just didn't really follow this movie and I think it might be because I didn't read the book. The movie overall didn't really do much for me. Visuals were probably the best part of the entire movie.
Overview
One of the most popular books in literature has once again come to the big screen. This time from Moulin Rouge! director Baz Lurhmann, whose eccentric style and visual focus has been well known for a long time. This story is from the book of the same name written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It is a series of intertwining lives that revolve around Gatsby (Leonardo Dicaprio) and it told by Nick Carraway (Tobey McGuire). The film is about the past, and the tough decision that go along with it. While bringing up generic themes such as love, secrets, gossip and perception of others. I am not going to go into much more because I assume most people have read the book.
Visuals
Trey: This is the section of the film that most people will rave about, but me I find it extremely distracting from a could be great story. I don't need slow motion shots with immense CGI behind them just for a character. Yeah Gatsby is that important and classy but I felt I looked at him holding up that martini glass for at least 2 minutes. If they cut out all the slow motion I bet the film would be at least 5 minutes shorter. Its beautiful I understand that, Baz Lurhmann has some serious style but don't let it overshadow the movie and this one did.
Suzanne: I disagree with Trey and the visuals (sorry babe) but I thought they were amazing. I loved the way everything was over dramatic and over the top. I think that CGI is starting to take over a little too much though. I think that directors really need to start trying a little harder to do things on real sets instead of just making it CGI. I think the visuals worked pretty well in this movie though.
Audio and Score
Trey: The score was produced by hip hop artist Jay Z, and at times the hip hop music doesn't work. There was times that it worked well, but the slow rendition of Beyoncé's Crazy In Love was cringe worthy. When they did use the classic music of its time period it worked wonders and had me confused as to why they didn't just stick with it. The hip hop music made me stop and shake my head instead of it enhancing the story.
Suzanne: I did not like the score for this movie. I understand that Jay Z is really popular right now but this music doesn't work for this movie. The roaring 20's was filled with amazing music of its own and they just completely ignored that for this film. The music that Jay Z did just really distracted me from becoming really immersed in this movie. I think if they would have had music from the actual time period I would have liked the movie a lot better.
Acting
Trey: This is a mixed bag for me, there was performances I liked and others I hated. Let's start with Gatsby himself Leonardo Dicaprio. Leo did a great job as usual but when you say Old Sport 54 times (yes I counted) it's really obnoxious. I understand someone explained to me that it was in the book but it doesn't translate well. Tobey McGuire was also really good as the narrator and the one person who kept the film from falling apart. As for Joel Edgerton and Cary Mulligan who play a married couple, I hated them both. Edgerton's voice was so odd and I felt like he was in a Broadway play. The same odd voice issue came with Mulligan, yet her dainty delivery of liens and squeals drove me insane. I really liked Jason Clarke in his extremely small role, I was very upset that he was nothing more than a gas station owner. The uneven acting kept bringing me out of scenes that seemed to be important.
Suzanne: I thought that some of the actors in this movie did a really great job while others lacked quite a bit. Leonardo Dicaprio was the best part of this movie for me, he always does an amazing job in every movie that he is in. Toby McGuire, who I found is actually best friends with Leo, did a pretty great job in this movie as well. The only role that I really remember him in is Spider man but I thought that this movie really showed another side to him, which was really refreshing. The only problem that I had with Cary Mulligan was the cheesy voice that she used every once in a while in the movie, other than that she was another pretty great character. The rest of the characters didn't really stick out in my mind so I wont even mention them.
Story
Trey: I would like to start by saying, that in no way am I bashing the work of Fitzgerald. I am purely judging the film on the way in which they presented the story which I feel could have been better. The story at the end basically attempts to tell you who to like and who to dislike. If someone came up to me and was like which character did you like, Id say Gatsby. They would ask why, and my answer would be as simple as because you are suppose to. The film did nothing to make me care for anyone and if anything I hated everybody. Nobody was a good person, they were all hiding secrets and doing terrible things. If anyone was a good guy it was Carraway but he was stuck in the wrong crowd. I didn't care when Gatsby died, nor did I care when Isla Fisher got hit by a car. Any opportunity to add anything of value to its characters or plot was completely passed up for visual gimmicks and terrible song choices. The movie itself had no substance and I blame Baz Lurhmann for that. Unless of course the book is the same way.
Suzanne: I don't really have a lot to say about the story because a lot of it confused me. From what I got from the story it was ok but I'm just not really sure what to say about it. I enjoyed Gatsby and that is about it. I think once again Trey said it all in his review about the story.
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