Baz Luhrmann's highly-anticipated adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, and Isla Fisher. In the height of the "Roaring Twenties," Nick Carraway (Maguire), an aspiring writer and bond salesman, rents a cottage on Long Island's West Egg, across the bay from the swanky East Egg palace of his cousin, Daisy Buchanan (Mulligan). His neighbor is a mysterious WWI veteran named Jay Gatsby (DiCaprio), who throws lavish parties every weekend with money no one knows how he obtained. Nick soon discovers that Gatsby and Daisy share a secret past, and the only person standing in the way between Gatsby and his dream is Daisy's philandering husband, Tom (Edgerton). Because I assumed that Luhrmann would take many stylistic liberties, I was very surprised at how faithful the film is to the book. I also didn't expect the subdued tone of the novel to work with Lurhmann's flashy, exaggerated style, but it actually worked very well -- his style perfectly captured the euphoric essence of the decade, with the aid of some modern music (a trademark Luhrmann feature). I especially loved that the film is largely soundtracked by hip-hop (from the likes of Jay-Z and Beyoncé), which represents today what Jazz represented back then. My expectations for this film were, unfortunately, pretty low going in, but I was very pleasantly surprised. All of the elements -- from the directing to the script to the acting to the settings and costumes -- blended seamlessly to create a very entertaining film. My only major complaint: I definitely would not have chosen Mulligan to play Daisy! She carries the role well enough, and is a fine actress, but I still think that Daisy needed to be more visually striking.....
Should you see it: Yes
Grade: A-
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