Baz Luhrmann's Great Gatsby is boring, stupid and messy but most of all - it is hilarious. The film has a terrific soundtrack and beautiful visual side, but it's a complete chore, filled with scenes that were so funny I actually roared with laughter. Even one of the scenes listed below should prevent everyone from taking this film seriously but all of those? Add to that about hundred of times Gatsby says the words 'old sport' and what you get is a laugh riot. Wicker Man remake kind of a riot. Only Wicker Man was entertaining and Gatsby is incredibly boring, unless ridiculous things are happening. And boy is there a lot of those:1. Carey Mulligan making Daisy so boring, shallow and graceless you wonder why on Earth anyone would like to be around her, let alone fall for her. My favorite moments were when she started to cry out of the blue, like during the shirt throwing moment which has its own place on the list. This is the second worst performance of the year, beaten only by Gosling in Only God Forgives.
2. Tobey McGuire acting like a 5 year old boy who saw Playboy magazine for the very first time.
3. Whatever the hell that moment was:
4. The first time we see Gatsby which is so ridiculously over the top I actually had to pause the film to laugh for several seconds.
5. This fucking scene / the fact DiCaprio had better romantic chemistry with McGuire than with Mulligan.
6. Ridiculous slow motion moments.
7. Gatsby contemplating. While looking at the trees. You know, because it's all so deep and not about some reprehensibly spineless chick. Oh wait. It is.
8. The tea scene which includes: 8.1. The army of servants carrying flowers because apparently the tea drinking / getting back with the old girlfriend process requires you to do that in the surroundings resembling a fucking florist.
8.2. McGuire holding cupcakes nobody gives a crap about.
8.3. This:
8.4. THIS:
8.5. The staredown between DiCaprio and the clock. The clock did something awful. It showed what time it was and it will pay for it.
8.6. It was too intense to take so Gatsby storms out to get all wet in the rain and returns after presumably staring at his friends. The trees.
8.7. McGuire instructing him to fix his hair, you know, because the hair is the problem here.
8.8. The epic showdown with the clock.
8.9. Nick trying to make noise so that Gatsby and Daisy would stop flirting and start to give crap about him. He failed and I still cannot believe that scene actually happened. Someone wrote it, someone read it in the script and gave all those money for the movie. And as if it wasn't funny enough they got McGuire to play that part.
9. Gatsby fangirling over THE LIGHT.
10. The shirt throwing scene. You got the love of your life back to you house? Let's bury her under you shirts while her cousin watches!
11. Gatsby showing Daisy the shrine he made for her. This is like straight from serial killer movie.
12. Nick and Daisy dancing to ORGAN MUSIC..
13. Daisy mouthing "I love you" to Gatsby despite the fact her husband is few feet away and he can clearly hear them. Adding dumb to the list of qualities Daisy has.
14. The whole 'if you loved him for a day it means we can't be togther' deal. Fuck the war and 5 lost years THIS is really the issue we should be focusing on.
15. Gatsby yelling after Daisy's husband continuously insulted him and everyone reacting as if he just took a massive shit in the middle of the room.
16. The accident scene. Let's run straight at the car and shout your lover's name. Surely nothing bad will happen. Adding dumber than Daisy to the list of qualities Daisy's husband insignificant lover character who becomes significant in the end oh my how exciting has.
17. The fact Baz Luhrmann used that moment to put in even more visual flare and heavy handed symbolism. Adding heartless to the qualities Baz Luhrmann has.
18. Gatsby hiding in the bushes. Where is Waldo? style.
19. The flashback in which we see Daisy was the one driving the car and Lurhmann shows us the accident and symbolism again, in case anyone missed it. Adding terrible fucking driver to the list of qualities Daisy has.
20. Gatsby taking his sweet time before he dies even though he was shot in the heart.
RELATED POSTS:
This is why I feel like with a different director, Great Gatsby could have been a very emotional and compelling story for the big-screen. However, Luhrmann is anything but subtle, and all about the grand-moments, rather than the small, quiet, and tender ones. Oh well. I didn't hate the movie, but I love your points.
ReplyDeleteOh, definitely. There was just waaaay too much impact on style here.
DeleteAwesome, thank you!
I know it's silly and excessive but I still enjoyed the film as I am a fan of Baz Luhrmann. I love the look of it and the sense of craziness that occurs.
ReplyDeleteI felt the craziness for sure :)
DeleteGosh, I can't believe you got through it all!! I stopped before the flashback started; I hate flashbacks. But I still gotta see it for DiCaprio. Every one says he was still the best. And by the looks of things, the rest of the movie will be hilarious. :D
ReplyDeleteIf you ask me, Baz should have never been a director. With his eye for visual shots, he should have been a set designer or cinematographer...because his movies have fallen apart ever since Romeo and Juliet.
Oh man, there are several flashbacks here, they are all so dull. DiCaprio was trying at least, he was still the best out of 3 main performances.
DeleteI did like Moulin Rouge! but Australia was borderline unwatchable.
Oh, Lordy. At least I'll have Leo to look forward to. :D
DeleteMoulin Rouge is a fun movie! And yes Australia could have been a great Gone With The Wind epic film, but Baz has too many ideas and doesn't know how to put them all together...
Plus it was really boring :) It always irks me when someone puts all that glitter and expensive things in the movie and it turns out to be so freaking boring because instead of figuring out how to direct it the director was trying to make a stunning looking film. That's just shallow - and a colossal waste of money.
DeleteIf I ever get around to seeing this, I will try not to take it to seriously. I do love The Wicker Man remake type of bad sometimes.
ReplyDeleteWicker Man was much funnier and entertaining than this, though :) God I love this movie - one of the most hilarious films I've seen.
DeleteAhahaha, this is an EPIC post, Sati, epic!! I think Baz himself probably would enjoy this post, if he had a sense of humor about it of course. That tea scene is hilarious but you're right, Gatsby fangirling over THE LIGHT probably takes the cake! I'm not fond of Mulligan here either but then again her character IS supposed to be boring, shallow and graceless. I saw the 1974 movie and that's how Mia Farrow played it. I don't know if ANYONE could actually be charismatic in that role, well maybe Cate Blanchett :)
ReplyDeleteThanks! :) I'm sure he doesn't have a sense of humor about this, as those few folks who enjoyed that...movie don't :)
DeleteI get that Daisy was far from interesting character but at the very least they should have convinced me Gatsby would go through all this trouble for her and honestly they didn't - I couldn't understand what he sees in her.
Great post! I liked the visuals, and I didn't hate the movie, but it did seem like it missed the point. It was all style, not much of the substance.
ReplyDeleteExactly. Normally Luhrmann is easy on the substance but here it was waaay too much style and too little story.
DeleteThe Great Gatsby was about as entertaining as a swift kick in the balls! I was going to write about the exact things that made it excruciating, but then I'd end up leaving an essay on your page. Loved this post though! I laughed my ass off at Nick shaking the plate! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks! Yes, the film is so far one of the worst I've seen this year. Really boring, really misguided but at least funny at times :)
DeleteFun post but I do want to ask- have you read the book? Because a lot of things mentioned here happened exactly like how they did in the book. That was actually one of the reasons the film worked for me- it was one of the closest adaptations I have seen, which admittedly did get too much at times, especially with all the symbolism. And I'm pretty sure the tea scene was intentionally funny.
ReplyDeleteI did think Mulligan was wrongly cast though. But Daisy IS a bitch a half.
I didn't nor I intend to, it just doesn't look like anything that would interest me.
DeleteSure some of those were supposed to be intentionally funny but for me those scenes came off as so ridiculous it turned the entire movie into a comedy and diminished all the drama. I mean I laughed during two main death scenes because of how ridiculous they were portrayed on screen.
Interesting that you went for the movie despite the book not appealing to you. I don't know anyone who saw it that didn't read it.
DeleteYes, I should just watch movies that I read the books on previously. No one? I have hard time believing that.
DeleteI wouldn't recommend a hardline stance on that. I'm just saying it seemed like a waste of your money.
DeleteWell, so is a lot of movies. At least I didn't see it in 3D which is almost always a waste of money.
DeleteWill just have to disagree about nearly every point you make!!! Loved this film.
ReplyDeleteOh and Carey Mulligan was dreamy :)
I usually like her but if her 'work' here won't be the worst female performance I've seen by the time the year is over I am going to be shocked.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteNo, of course not. I saw all of his films except for his first one but even in comparison to those Gatsby was extra ridiculous and insanely light in substance. Not to mention unlike in his other films, the actors here were miscast and delivered truly awful work, especially Mulligan.
DeleteHaha, I love this, and I didn't even laugh during the film. #15 is priceless! :)
ReplyDeleteThe reactions were priceless :)
DeleteThis post is so hilarious :)) Perhaps I should take it as a comedy rather than feeling 'what's with this movie?', I'll be more entertained. It was so overrated. I was disappointed with Mulligan in this movie.
ReplyDeleteShe was terrible, not only miscast but also completely uninspiring and dull.
DeleteI'm holding my gut here! I didn't like this movie either, but your review is simply pitch perfect! I couldn't get past the fact Daisy was such a bore yet multiple people found her irresistible. You took the critique to another level, and I loved every second of it. Marry me!? ;)
ReplyDeleteThank you! :) Daisy was so boring and shallow, that redhead chick was more interesting and she was in like 3 scenes.
DeleteI found it alright.
ReplyDeleteTerrific.
DeleteHahaha!
DeleteI haven't seen it yet and now I might skip it completely. :D
ReplyDeleteThat's a good call :)
DeleteI liked it more than you, but it definitely had its problems.
ReplyDelete"Carey Mulligan making Daisy so boring" I do agree with you here. At first I found Daisy to be very charming and interesting, but she became a bore by the end.
The style did get a little much at times. Many of the car scenes looked fake with many of the buildings and trees looking a little too polished. The sometimes awkward editing didn’t help some of the more stylish scenes. I don’t think they stayed on the same shot for more than five seconds. Just bounding from one angle to another. So hyperactive!
I felt Mulligan could have done better if she had some guidance from Lurhmann but obviously he was busy spraying glitter everywhere :)
DeleteYeah it's like every person that was involved in making of this one should be put on ritalin.
I really really enjoyed this post. The part about the Gatsby behaving like a serial killer from the shine he made for Daisy made me laugh. If Luhrman took the material a bit more serious instead of doing flashy camera work I would love it. For Moulin Rouge the style enhances the story but for this it was distracting
ReplyDeleteExactly, MR! was fun, this was just misguided.
DeleteI haven't seen this film, and probably never will. I'm convinced your post is the best possible way to see it.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! Yeah, it's not a big loss not to watch this one.
DeleteOh my God, Sati. You are so brilliant for this. You know I loved Gatsby, but you had some valid points here...and some hilarious points at that! Re-posting this everywhere!
ReplyDeleteThank you! I'm especially thrilled you liked it, given you actually enjoyed the movie.
DeleteThis was a fun post to read :)
ReplyDeleteI kind of tolerated The Great Gatsby movie, but it should have been better.
For me, Daisy in the book is more interesting. She used Gatsby for attention, while the others used Gatsby for his money.
Gatsby is committed to an idea of Daisy that he has created in his head, rather than to the real woman she is. Gatsby is blind to Daisy's flaws it seems.
You are right that C Mulligan doesn't make the Daisy character memorable, and Tobey Maguire is just too goofy for the role of Nick.
I haven't laughed this hard for a long time. (I counted and before posting this comment, it was for four minutes.) The eight point here is the best thing ever and this very nicely explains why I laughed half way through the film.
ReplyDeleteThis post had me laughing out loud, which rarely happens when I read something.
ReplyDeleteWhile I think the movie picked up after about an hour, there were too many ridiculous moments to ignore. Horrible and unnecessary special effects which I always think detract emotion from a scene. It made Nick's house look like something Alice would stumble upon in Wonderland.