Drama
F.Y.I.
Based on the 1925 novel by the American author F. Scott
Fitzgerald, the book sold poorly when first published and the author died in
1940 believing himself to be a failure. His work experienced a revival during
World War II and has remained popular ever since. This novel is now considered
to be a literary classic and has become a staple of school curricula. It consistently
is ranked among the greatest works of American literature of all-time. If only
he knew.
PRINCIPAL
CAST MEMBERS
Tobey Maguire: aspiring writer Nick Carraway
Carey Mulligan: his cousin Daisy Buchanan
Joel Edgerton: Daisy’s husband Tom
Elizabeth Debicki: Daisy’s best friend Jordan Baker
Leonardo DiCaprio: Jay Gatsby
Isla Fisher: Myrtle Wilson
Jason Clarke: her husband George
REVIEW
Any story about the world of the super rich is bound to be
lavish and frequently over-the- top. This is no exception but the many party
sequences do not really add very much to the main story except to show the
extravagance of the rich. But they certainly add measurably to the running time
of two hours and 30 minutes which makes the film a good half hour too long.
There is a simple explanation according to Ralph’s Rule of
Redundancy:
“Any film where one person takes on more than two key
positions has a major shortcoming: the absence of independent critical
judgement that results in something less than it might have been.” In this case
Baz Luhrmann is Writer, Director and Producer.
Great attention has been paid to period details in and
around their homes (except for the few exceptions noted below) but a section of
the city they drive through looks like something from the Wizard of Oz and
totally out of character. If the producers wanted to show “the other side of
the coin” it could have been done in a more realistic manner, in keeping with the
rest of the film.
The acting is uniformly good as one would expect from the
A-list actors chosen for the roles.
Overall it’s a bit of a disappointment. It is good, but not
great like the title would have you believe.
CLASSIFICATION

some violent images, sexual content, smoking, partying,
brief language.
FOR
NITPICKERS ONLY
- Nick’s
doctor suggests he write down his thoughts and slides a pad of paper
towards him and turns the pen so it’s vertical and ready to be used. In
the following scene although no one touched it, the pen is horizontal,
just as it was before the good doctor moved it.
- Daisy
incorrectly refers to Kaiser Wilhelm as the German King: she was half
right as he was the Emperor of Germany and King of Prussia.
- Jay
we are told was a Captain in the US Army but a photo of him shows his
metal insignia of rank to be a single silver bar, that of a First
Lieutenant.
- The
lyrics of one song refer to the stock market crash which did not take
place until 7 years later.
P.S.
I chose not to see it in 3-D and from the comments I hear that was a good decision.
No comments:
Post a Comment