The Great Gatsby (2013)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Jay Gatsby	Leonardo DiCaprio
Nick Carraway	Tobey Maguire
Daisy Buchanan	Carey Mulligan	½
Tom Buchanan	Joel Edgerton	½
Jordan Baker	Elizabeth Debicki
Myrtle Wilson	Isla Fisher
George Wilson	George Wilson
Dr. Walter Perkins	Jack Thompson

Review

Gatsy, Gatsby, Gatsby, old sport, old sport. Oh, what wonderful images and colours accompanied by such a long-winded and strangely reductive rendition of F. Scott Fitzgerald's famous novel. Director Baz Luhrmann's idea is to make the film come alive by stringing together a series of iconic scenes (much like he did so well with Romeo + Juliet in 1996), but the scenes' essence drown in an overflow of words, an influx of voiceovers, and letters raining down over the screen. I wouldn't say the film is ill-focused as much as that it never really catches the spirit of the book, other than on the surface. Yes, here are the roaring 20s and here is the contrast between rich and poor, classy and filthy, but the film lacks resonance; it's too inward-focused, self-centered and character-based, something neither a wavering Tobey Maguire or a somewhat presumptuous Leonardo DiCaprio can amend.