I knew that the Great Gatsby didn’t get great reviews, but I had high hopes anyway. The trailer looked good, the NYT’s A.O. Scott offered a dissenting, positive review, and it’s a film based on a classic novel. It ought to be hard for it not to contain some gravitas, right?
But the film feels static and flat. Some of the music mash-ups are marvelous. The deconstructed Rhapsody in Blue was fun, and the rap score is a great counter-intuitive choice for the 1920s. But the story is just…what? Ironically, it wasn’t the film making, but the story itself that feels flimsy. Is the novel that paper thin? I read it in high school and took everyone’s word for it that it’s a classic, but the story left no greater impression on me now than it did then.
In the middle of the movie I found myself unable to contain an urge to get up and go get some Raisinettes – a sure sign the film I’m watching can’t hold my attention. Okay, it works well enough if you simply feel like going to the movies – I don’t regret going – but it’s not memorable.