Great Gatsby Trailer and Movie Reviews

The premise, courtesy of the film's official website:

“The Great Gatsby” follows Fitzgerald-like, would-be writer Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) as he leaves the Midwest and comes to New York City in the spring of 1922, an era of loosening morals, glittering jazz and bootleg kings. Chasing his own American Dream, Nick lands next door to a mysterious, party-giving millionaire, Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio), and across the bay from his cousin, Daisy (Carey Mulligan), and her philandering, blue-blooded husband, Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton). It is thus that Nick is drawn into the captivating world of the super-rich, their illusions, loves and deceits. As Nick bears witness, within and without the world he inhabits, he pens a tale of impossible love, incorruptible dreams and high-octane tragedy, and holds a mirror to our own modern times and struggles.

Here's what critics are saying:

What's problematic in Luhrmann's version is that while his screenplay (co-written with frequent collaborator Craig Pearce) takes pains to parallel the book's tale of Jay Gatsby's star-crossed love for Daisy Buchanan, his filmmaking point of view suffocates beyond resuscitation any dramatic interest the story might have generated. — Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

The director has fashioned a gaudy long-form music video — all kaleidoscopic spectacle and little substance — rather than a radiant new take on an American literary classic. — Claudia Puig, USA Today

... the cast is first-rate, the ambiance and story provide a measure of intoxication and, most importantly, the core thematic concerns pertaining to the American dream, self-reinvention and love lost, regained and lost again are tenaciously addressed. — Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter

Luhrmann takes F. Scott Fitzgerald's source material, douses it in modern music courtesy of soundtrack mastermind Shawn 'Jay-Z' Carter, and shoots the melodrama with sweeping movements normally reserved for Lord of the Rings. Weary narrator Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) describes Gatsby's weekly festivities as a 'kaleidoscopic carnival.' Quite apt: Luhrmann's 3D spectacle goes from mesmerizing to dizzying in under 30 minutes. — Matt Patches, Hollywood.com

Well, you did it Baz Luhrmann. Even with an enormous budget, outrageous costumes, beautiful actors, native 3D and a camera that can fly around and do just about anything, you still made watching 'The Great Gatsby' just as boring as sitting through 8th period English. — Jordan Hoffman, ScreenCrush

DiCaprio helps save the movie from its excesses and missteps, particularly a narration that not only redundantly describes the visuals but obscures them in the form of floating words. Luhrmann hasn't solved the riddle of 'Gatsby,' but it's an audacious and worthy attempt. — Rafer Guzman, Newsday

Baz Luhrmann’s take on the classic F. Scott Fitzgerald novel is very much like an amusement park, colorful and loud and fake and relentlessly entertaining. But as the madness (chemical and otherwise) of the story burns out, so too does Luhrmann’s trademark style, and the result is a most unexpected one, as the over-the-top pageantry of The Great Gatsby crumbles into an uninspired, flaccid adaptation that manages to deflate an enduring love story of even the most basic of human emotions. — Kate Erbland, Film School Rejects

"The Great Gatsby" is rated PG-13 for some violent images, sexual content, smoking, partying and brief language. The movie runs 143 minutes.

It's playing at Edwards West Covina Stadium

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