I'll admit that I never got around to reading The Great Gatsby until I first heard about the movie at the beginning of this year. I did, however, have the decency to read the book before seeing the movie, because that's just how things are supposed to be.
If you have never read the book (which I suggest doing before watching the movie), The Great Gatsby tells the story of a youngish man named Nick who moves to New York to work with bonds. He lives next door to a mysterious man names J. Gastby. This man likes to throw big parties at his big house, and he does this a lot. No one really knows Gatsby, and there are plenty of wild rumors floating around, most of which involve either drugs, royalty, and/or murder.
Slowly, Nick starts to find out the truth about Gatsby, and then all sorts of things happen.
The Review
I am more conflicted about this movie than any other movie I have ever seen. There are two parts to every movie-y opinion I have: how well done it was, and how much I enjoyed it. Usually (every time except this), these two parts are in perfect sync, or at least close to each other. Theoretically, it is possible for me to respect a movie for being well done, but not enjoy it (probably because Beyonce is in it or something).
Most of this movie was not done well. At all. Large portions of it were complete and utter crap. Some of the scenes were the worst things I have ever seen, and I once watched a late night silent movies marathon.
The movie has two redeeming scenes: one where Gatsby and Daisy finally meet up again, and one where Tom and Gatsby get into an argument. The Gatsby/Daisy scene is simply great, and DiCaprio really shows off how good this movie could have been. The Tom/Gatsby scene is not as good as the one with Daisy, but it's really the turning point in the story where things go from great to pretty crapy really quickly.
The movie has a really weird style. It is set in the 1920s, but features cheesy 3D graphics and rap music. A lot of rap music.
And the cars! Every time there was a car driving, it sounded like 1,000 nascar races going on at once. These people race everywhere they go at speeds way too dangerous for any city, especially New York.
And the cars! Every time there was a car driving, it sounded like 1,000 nascar races going on at once. These people race everywhere they go at speeds way too dangerous for any city, especially New York.
I feel like the movie's creators were trying to capture the style of the book, which is written in a very over the top, stupidly detailed way.
They pretty much failed in capturing the feeling of the book. This movie has a very different feel, though it is not a bad feeling, just not what you would expect.
The rap music and 3D graphics were really annoying and out of place, and the way they had the words being spoken appearing on screen at the end of the movie was weird.
Despite all this, I enjoyed the movie. I liked the awkwardness of Gatsby, and the story is so great you can only mess it up so bad. However, because the movie is so strange, and parts of it so bad, there's really no way to say if you'll like it or not.
Despite all this, I enjoyed the movie. I liked the awkwardness of Gatsby, and the story is so great you can only mess it up so bad. However, because the movie is so strange, and parts of it so bad, there's really no way to say if you'll like it or not.
What's Better: Book v. Movie
This debate must be mentioned when talking about a movie like this. Usually, the book is better. In this case however, well, it's still the book.
If you haven't read the book, the movie is going to seem really weird in some places.
I feel like reading the book actually made the movie better, because you can sort of understand why it is so freaking weird at times.
But as with most book adaptations, it's hard to beat the original.
The Bottomline
I should not have enjoyed this movie. Almost everything about it was bad. Somehow, however, I really enjoyed it. Some of the parts in the middle were actually executed rather well, and DiCaprio was amazing in a couple of scenes.
I have to break my score up for this one. Really, the movie was not good, it was too cheesy and over the top to be considered good. But still I enjoyed the movie, and feel bad giving it a bad score.
Technically: 6/10
Enjoyability: 8/10
The IMDB score takes into account over 4,000 reviews from critics and regular people.
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