Salt in Wound

3.5 stars out of 5

OK, this book, I did read. In high school, so I don’t really remember it very well. Except there was a green light, which was, you know, an example of symbolism.

Boy, people really hated this movie before anyone had seen it, huh? Me, I was torn. I’m a pretty big Leonardo DiCaprio fan. And I’d never seen any of the previous Gatsby film adaptations. But, I’m not a particular Baz Luhrmann aficionado. In fact, the only movie of his I’d seen is Romeo + Juliet (also starring my man Leo), which I’d seen in the theater with one of my own Daisy Buchanans. So much time has passed that I’ve actually met someone named Baz since then. But I do not recall liking that film.

So I made a deal with myself: I’d go see Gatsby, but wouldn’t spring for the 3-D. Looked splashy enough already, right?

And… I gotta say… (shhh, don’t tell anyone)… I kinda sorta liked it.

Sure, it took some getting used to. This is not a realistic depiction of the 1920s. It’s highly, highly, highly stylized, practically a cartoon. Luhrmann likes brash, bright colors contrasted with super drab colors. OK, we get it. Long curtains keep billowing in the wind. This often looks like a commercial for some high-end terrible vodka. And he keeps hitting us over the head with those eyes from the cover of the book. (They’re on a billboard here that characters keep driving past. Come on, Baz, don’t distract us from that green light!) Also, he tosses in a lot of hip-hop and dance music (Jay-Z is inexplicably an executive producer; the ghost of F. Scott Fitzgerald is still wondering what “H to the Izzo” means). Fine, whatever, it’s Luhrmann’s interpretation—but the 20′s had some pretty awesome music of its own.

What saves the day are the rock-solid main characters and plot which Luhrmann doesn’t F with (F. Scott?), and yet another knockout performance from DiCaprio. He’s a bit old to play Gatsby but still boyish enough to pull it off, and those lines around Leo’s eyes hint that something may be rotten in West Egg. (Last one into the pool is a…) Leo has never looked more like a capital-M, capital-S Movie Star and it fits Jay Gatsby to a T. And yet DiCaprio is also able to show us Gatsby’s self-doubt, eagerness to please, and cockeyed/delusional sense of hope.

Tobey Maguire (not Elijah Wood) does very good work as Nick Carraway, another superb Fitzgerald creation: entranced but grounded all at once. Other actors/characters don’t fare quite as well. Carey Mulligan is in full pouty-little-girl mode as Daisy. Joel Edgerton tries so hard to maintain an American accent, he doesn’t have time to do much else as Tom Buchanan. Isla Fisher’s role probably should’ve gone to any attractive young actress more in need of a film credit. Jason Clarke was really good in Zero Dark Thirty but here only gets to make anguished facial expressions.

But the movie generally looks great, never drags, and when all is said and done, you can’t help but appreciate the influence this nearly 90-year-old tale has had on our culture ever since. Don Draper is Jay Gatsby. Norma Desmond was an alternate version. Howard Hughes was a bit of Gatsby in real life (hey, Leo played him too). And maybe we’ve all had that Daisy Buchanan who got away. So we have to quietly admire the person who sets up shop across the bay, absolutely assured he can get her back.