Review of The Great Gatsby (2013)

Wait for the DVD

While Baz Luhrmann’s hyperactive interpretation remains faithful to the novel, and Carey Mulligan and Leonardo Dicaprio are good as the hapless Daisy and Gatsby, bloated imagery and blatant symbols crowd the screen as the Jay Z-produced soundtrack tests the limits of anachronism. What is subtle in the book becomes overplayed, as the film is jam-packed with expensive-looking and busy CGI representations of everything from East Egg to NYC, which resembles a Jazz Age Coruscant. A small apartment party in the book becomes a drunken orgy, but, then again, perhaps such excess—or rather its accompanying corruption—is the point.