The Great Gatsby – written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1921 – is one of America’s great novels. Oh really?
First and foremost, the narrator, Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire)*, dominates the film. As we will find out why later, Nick is currently in a sanitarium and telling a doctor what happened in the summer of 1922. Is he a patient because of some traumatic war injury, he was lost a sea for 79 days and forced to eat his companions, or he killed his parents in a fit of uncontrollable rage?
Oh no! It’s far worse than any of these scenarios.
Tom is a serial cheater. Daisy lounges around all day. Daisy is spoiled but hardly a devastating beauty. She has no sex appeal or charisma. Since Nick is Daisy’s cousin, how come he is in such awe of wealth? Daisy married well but she certainly did not help her family. Clearly, Nick was never invited to the Buchanan’s mansion.
Tom takes Nick to New York City and they indulge in some provocative horseplay with Tom’s mistress Myrtle (Isla Fisher) and her girlfriends. Like a wide-eyed schoolboy, Nick succumbs and gets blind drunk and dances with abandonment. Tom and Nick are now tight, but soon Nick is wondering about his reclusive neighbor, Jay Gatsby.
Finally, after watching awestruck Nick dominate the film for half an hour, Gatsby arrives!
Gatsby befriends Nick – who has taken a small cottage next to his mansion – for one simple reason. He wants Nick to invite his cousin Daisy to the little cottage for tea.
Nick keeps looking adoringly at Gatsby and sitting way too close to him. They are always smiling at each other. They wait at the cottage for the arrival of Daisy.
A man of such wealth – due to some unsavory business deals with Russians – he has acquired manners and style and created a mysterious aura around himself. But he’s a blithering mess around Daisy.
It’s been five years since Gatsby saw Daisy. Up against the aggressively virile Tom, pink-suited Gatsby looks like a dandy. Every time he sees Daisy he cries. No wonder Daisy is torn between the two men.
The tragic ending of Nick’s summer sends him straight to the mental hospital. His doctor’s advice is to write it all down.
Why Carey Mulligan?**
“So she does the scene, absolutely fantastic, and grabs him and kisses him. She went out the door and I was just thinking, ‘My God, that is Daisy Buchanan.’”I would love to see the other auditions, wouldn’t you? Someone has them and needs to YouTube them.
DiCaprio is a major star but why did he allow Gatsby to be portrayed in such a wimpy-ass way? If “THE GREAT GATSBY” is really about social elitism and class identity, why not highlight the differences and the old money folks looking down on Gatsby’s ill-bred display of wealth?
The sensational opulence on display, a Luhrmann trademark, looks rushed. When has a mob ever been sexy? Gatsby’s bacchanalia centered on drinking and wasn’t very decadent. Gatsby role was as director and bemused voyeur.
The 3D was nice but unnecessary. You hardly noticed it.
Victoria Alexander is a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association: www.bfca.org/ and the Las Vegas Film Critics Society: www.lvfcs.org/. Victoria’s weekly column, “The Devil’s Hammer,” is posted every Monday. http://www.fromthebalcony.com/editorials.php.
If you would like to be included on Victoria’s private distribution list for a weekly preview, just email her at masauu@aol.com. Victoria lives in Las Vegas, Nevada and answers every email. You can contact Victoria directly at masauu@aol.com.
*What has Tobey Maguire been up to since leaving the Spider-Man franchise? From several sources, including digitalspy and radaronline, comes the following: “The Spider-Man actor was named in an illegal gambling suit in 2011 in which he was sued for taking part in the card game with jailed criminal Bradley Ruderman. Maguire is among more than a dozen high-profile Hollywood people being sued in connection with a mega-millions illegal gambling ring that ran high-stakes underground poker games, Star magazine is reporting exclusively.”
“Maguire, 35, won more than $300,000 from a Beverly Hills hedgefund manager who embezzled investor funds and orchestrated a Ponzi scheme in a desperate bid to pay off his monster debt to the star and others, it’s alleged. Tobey Maguire has insisted that he was unaware that he was breaking the law upon becoming involved in unlicensed poker games, which also involved Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio and Ben Affleck. Maguire won as much as $1 million a month over a period of three years, one source told Star Magazine. “That means he could have made up to $30 to $40 million from these games,” the whistle-blowing card shark predicted to Star. In a world exclusive investigation, Star detailed how the A-list aces used secret passwords to play in the covert games that were so intense, the door was manned by armed guards in bulletproof vests. http://radaronline.com/exclusives/2011/06/tobey-maguire-sued-illegal-poker-game-leonardo-dicaprio-ben-affleck-matt-damon/
**Carey Mulligan’s New Look, September 13th, 2010. Carey Mulligan was Hollywood’s It Girl last year. Now, she’s looking more polished on the red carpet, dyed her hair blonde, and gotten some plastic surgery. She wants the big Hollywood career. Check out her nose, the bridge is slimmer and the tip of her nose is different. And, in the after photo, her eyes look wider and more open. That could only be from a brow lift. Don’t let the hair color change fool you. http://www.goodplasticsurgery.com/2010/09/13/carey-mulligans-new-look/