Movie Review: Not Exactly Your Grandmother's Gatsby

Critics' reviews for Baz Luhrmann's interpretation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's culturally and generationally transcendent masterpiece, The Great Gatsby, have been mixed, to be coy. If I could shout anything from the rooftops in response to seeing this film, it'd be this: the common denominator for enjoying this movie is Luhrmann. If you come into it expecting to see, not only an American classic, but a Luhrmann film, in all its gaudy, festive glory, you should walk out of the theater having enjoyed yourself.

However, if you want to see the book played out before you exactly the way Fitzgerald wrote it, be warned. After all, this is the same guy who dressed Harold Perrineau in drag as a Black Mercutio. What were you really expecting?

Movie poster for Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby

If anything, Luhrmann is allowed to take liberties with the story because, at this point in time, who hasn't either read the book (even if it was only because you had to in high school) or seen one of the films? We all know the story well: the central themes of opulence, the American Dream, the decadence and restlessness of the Jazz Age. The callousness of love and the lengths we would go to in order to hold onto it, no matter how far away it is. And we are reminded that it can seem impossibly far away, even if it's just across the bay. 

Still, knowing how the story ends allows us to feel everything so much more profoundly. All of Gatsby's boyish optimism about his future with Daisy is heartbreaking because we want to believe it with him, as we did when we first encountered the story, but we know the tragedy that awaits him for wanting so badly things he simply wasn't "born with," as Tom Buchanan puts it. But our knowledge of the material, and the high pedestal on which we place Gatsby, can also be a downfall for a director who has to impress a cynical audience. We know what we're looking for in each of the roles and Luhrmann's way of introducing his reincarnated characters seems to be a grand reveal that drags on a bit long or comes off a bit too forced. For example, Daisy's first appearance is only her hand and the sound of her childlike giggles. You see a body part here and there as she is slowly uncoiled among a room of excessively billowing white curtains, until she is finally uncovered, emerging like an angel from the sea of milky white. Except, it doesn't really end up having that impact. It's more, "Get to the point, already! We know it's Carey Mulligan."

Now, it wouldn't be a true Baz Luhrmann film if it didn't have two things: an audacious, scene-stealing soundtrack and an outrageous party scene. Give Luhrmann a party scene and he becomes a kid in a candy store. "It's like an amusement park!" Nick beams wondrously at his first Gatsby party. And an amusement park it is. Luhrmann's ability to create a party scene in which everyone appears to be on acid is no new feat. Creating an ambiance of the craziest party you've ever been to is a trademark of his most famous films (again, Harold Perrineau, white wig, shimmery ensemble). But it's unfortunately not enough to make the first half of this movie any less draggy than it ended up (no pun intended, there was no cross-dressing in this film). 

The second half, I will say, surprisingly stuck pretty closely to the book and the 1974 film. And that's where it takes the cake. Although I thoroughly enjoyed Robert Redford as Gatsby and loved hating Mia Farrow as Daisy, that movie (146 minutes long) seemed to go on forever. This one (143 minutes long), while the scenes could have been shorter, was at least entertaining to look at. And to listen to. With all the hype and controversy surrounding the film's soundtrack, it's safe to say that it was hard not to notice all the modern music these 20s characters were dancing to (at one point, a group of African Americans pass by the central characters in a car being driven by a White man, while they sip champagne and blast Jay-Z's "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)"). 

But with that being said, most of the songs barely appeared for more than a passing moment. I was able to make out the opening lyrics of Florence + the Machine's dramatic ballad "Over the Love" before it left as quickly as it came. I also heard a glimpse of the barely recognizable Beyonce cover of "Back in Black" before that, too, faded away in a flash. At the end of it all, it was Jay-Z and Lana Del Rey who were the clear centerpieces of the film. Jay-Z's "$100 Bill," "No Church in the Wild," "Who Gon Stop Me" and "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)" appeared in the film/trailer. 

But Luhrmann makes it clear that Del Rey's "Young and Beautiful," which he co-wrote with her, is the real star here. The song surfaces, ever changing, several times throughout Daisy and Gatsby's encounters and really reminds you of the beautiful synergy between film and music. Sometimes, certain films are elevated by their scores and soundtracks. Similarly, certain songs are more powerful in the context of a scene. This is the case for "Young and Beautiful." While it's another musical triumph for Del Rey, on its own, it doesn't reach the crescendo, the grand finale, that you want it to. In the context of Gatsby and Daisy reuniting for the first time in years and staring ravenously into each other's eyes, it's enough to give you goosebumps. It works perfectly as the theme song of Daisy's life, and her sorrowful, passionate, if not vapid, relationship with Gatsby.

DiCaprio as Gatsby, anxiously awaiting a reunion with Daisy (Mulligan)

While I may have (and perhaps still kind of do) have my reservations about the modernized soundtrack (I would have liked to hear an Eight to the Bar song), it speaks to my earlier reference that the story of Gatsby is intergenerational. It works as well in 2013 as it did in the 20s, 40s and 70s. And it's even more so exemplified in people like Jay-Z, who can easily be considered a hip-hop Gatsby. He went from poverty to extreme wealth, prestige and being married to one of the most beautiful and powerful women on the planet (who, interestingly enough, comes from money...see what I did there?). The soundtrack is an interpretation itself of how we interpret a universal theme all these years later from a pastiche of our favorite artists across multiple genres of music. 

And of course, the film could have completely flopped if not for proper casting. Leonardo DiCaprio recalls his earlier boyishness as Gatsby, making you fall for him all over again in a way you haven't since Jack Dawson. Tobey Maguire is a perfect wallflower as the observant and perceptive Nick Carraway. Newcomer Elizabeth Debicki is stunning, yet understated, as bystander Jordan. Carey Mulligan makes for a Daisy that is more difficult to hate as she doesn't appear as vain and materialistic (probably more a result of the writing), but fairy-ish and aloof nonetheless. Joel Edgerton is deliciously virile and wicked as Tom Buchanan. And some nice surprises appear, such as Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan as Meyer Wolfsheim. 

I could go on, but I've already given you a mouthful to chew on while you contemplate how you'll feel about the remastered Gatsby. It's not perfect, and I certainly WOULD NOT recommend seeing it in 3D, but all in all, give it a fair and honest try, go in with a complete open mind and remember: it's definitely not your grandmother's Gatsby.