The Great Gatsby

1 ½ Pipes out of 4

Similar to real estate where the 3 most important aspects are location, location, location, in movie making the most critical aspects are narration, narration, narration. The Great Gatsby had such promise and turns out to be a really good film except for the narration. Toby Maguire narrates the entire film which is not so bad but every 20-30 minutes they remove the audience from the story that he is telling and return to him in real time. It removes the audience from the narrative and it disrupts the flow of the story. With the narration being so skewed it is all but impossible for the audience to relate or care about any of the characters. All have massive character flaws and we are not exposed enough to their virtues to be persuaded to overlook their flaws. Along with problems with the narration there are large issues with the soundtrack choices for the film. With the film being set in the 1920’s one would think that the film would be set to music of the time or at least modern adaption’s of 20’s esc music. Instead the soundtrack contains modern hip hop that removes the audience again from the narrative with the drastic difference from what is being seen and what is being heard.  A good soundtrack supplements a film and helps the audience get lost in the aura and spectacle of the movie. When Jay-Z is heard rapping in the background instead of the girls who are physically singing in front of you it breaks the aura. Leonardo DiCaprio dedicates himself to the role of Gatsby as only he can giving a fresh twist on him since Robert Redford took up the mantle in 1974 and Joel Edgerton, an incredibly underappreciated actor, does a masterful job of playing the egotistical, entitled Tom Buchanan. The potential for what this film could have been had the narration breaks to Toby Maguire’s messed up future been removed and the soundtrack done with more authenticity saves Gatsby from being a complete flop but the title misleads with calling it Great.