The Great Gatsby (2013)

In the 1920s, a young near penniless bond broker (Tobey Maguire) lives next to the mansion of a mysterious millionaire (Leonardo DiCaprio) who throws obscenely lavish parties. The millionaire befriends the bond broker because it's really his cousin (Carey Mulligan) that the enigmatic stranger is interested in and the young broker finds himself in a world of incredible wealth and privilege where a different set of rules apply. This fourth film version of the great F. Scott Fitzgerald novel once again proves that it's a book that seems to continually defeat any attempts to translate Fitzgerald's vivid portrait of a dreamer whose tragic downfall is set against the jazz age to celluloid. Baz Luhrmann's film is shot in 3D and the 3D is stunning, throwing us right in the thick of things almost immediately. For one brief moment, I thought someone had stood up in the audience before I realized it was a 3D image! The production design by Catherine Martin (who also did the costumes) is awesome. It's a visual feast. But it's also overwhelming, so overwhelming that it dwarfs the intimate story it's trying to tell. The spectacle that should be background becomes the foreground! The casting is a mixed bag. On the plus side, DiCaprio makes an excellent Gatsby right out of Fitzgerald and Elizabeth Debicki is so good as Jordan Baker that you wish she had more to do. On the downside, Maguire is a weak Nick Carraway, so weak he drags down almost every scene he's in. As Daisy, Mulligan is to put it bluntly ... common, something Daisy definitely isn't (where's Keira Knightley when you need her?) and Joel Edgerton as Tom Buchanan plays him like a thug rather than rather than a man born to wealth and position. The much talked about rap soundtrack is negligible and sporadic, a traditional underscore (by Craig Armstrong) as well as period tunes are used more. With Isla Fisher as Myrtle.