There’s a moment in The Great Gatsby in which Leonardo DiCaprio’s eponymous hero reveals that he spends money and throws lavish parties to cover up his own emptiness. The same could be said for Baz Luhrmann’s film. It’s ironic that a movie about the dangers of flamboyant excess would so thoroughly indulge in such flamboyant excess. “But the story is all about excess, so Luhrmann is smart to employ such excess,” I hear you retort. True, but the story is also about characters, and they are sadly lacking in this adaptation. For all his visual splendour and loud music, Luhrmann has neglected character and substance, leaving the film feeling as empty as Gatsby himself.

These don’t feel like complex characters, but broad caricatures that often verge on the cartoonish. Joel Edgerton’s Tom Buchanan is basically a moustache-twirling villain and it’s never entirely clear what’s so great about Gatsby anyway. DiCaprio has a distracting habit of dropping his Ts, so he keeps calling people “old spore.” Tobey Maguire is predictably uninteresting as Nick Carraway, a character about whom we learn disappointingly little. As for the usually excellent Carey Mulligan, here she is reduced to the role of the vacuous love interest whose shrillness is matched only by her whininess. Why are these men falling so desperately in love with such an aloof, irritating non-person? You’d be better off dating a cat in a dress.

All this is clearly of little concern to Luhrmann, who is much more interested in his lavish visual effects and obtrusive pop music. The problem with the soundtrack is not that it’s modern, but that it’s just not very good. By all means use modern music, just don’t make it Lana Del Ray. Or Florence + The Machine. Or Emeli Sandé. The result is something that looks more like a music video than a literary adaptation and Luhrmann’s use of 3D makes it obvious that he prioritises spectacle over anything else. Don’t make a literary adaptation in 3D. You’re not Ang Lee. You’re Baz Luhrmann. The camera barely stays still for long enough to capture anything substantial, and just as we think we’re getting somewhere interesting we’re pulled right out of it by some gaudy slow motion or some loud will.i.am.

To give Luhrmann his dues, the film is hypnotic and the storytelling solid. But The Great Gatsby is a classic case of style over substance, the kind of which we’ve come to expect from Baz Luhrmann who seems like a child in a candy store, over-indulging in brightly coloured sugary treats. The film fails to heed the warnings of its own story, and goes lavishly over the top at the expense of humanity and emotion. You certainly don’t come away from The Great Gatsby feeling like it’s adapted from one of the best novels of all time. Which it apparently is but I don’t know, I’ve not read it.

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Much has been said about the American Dream, about how anyone can come from anywhere and become anything. And although there are certainly plenty of cases where the Dream has been fulfilled, there are always those that have not. Hopefulness and optimism is no guarantee of success, but it can certainly help. Many periods during the course of American history had cynics and philosophers decry society and proclaim the end of that Dream. Probably since about the start. Sometimes a sad story sells better than a happy story, especially if you have several giant dance parties.

The Great Gatsby, from director Baz Luhrmann and based on the classic novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, takes Luhrmann’s love of bombast, dancing, anachronistic music, and classic literature and throws it all at you at a rapid pace. The few slow bits are quickly forgotten when new scenes are introduced that proceed far more expediently. Tobey Maguire plays Nick, a man coming to New York to make his fortune and see his cousin Daisy (Carey Mulligan) who is married to the very rich Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton). Naturally, Tom has a mistress (Isla Fisher) that everyone except her husband knows about, while Daisy’s friend Jordan (Elizabeth Debicki) seems to be a potential romantic interest for Nick. But it all changes when we begin to look into the mysterious Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio), a man with a hidden past who lives in a mansion right near Nick and across the river from the Buchanans. Gatsby throws lavish, ridiculous parties constantly, showing off some highly impressive dance sequences and cinematography. When Nick is befriended by Gatsby, the story becomes about lost loves and romantic notions, the upward climb of Americans with the distant fear of destruction hovering above it all. This movie (like the book) takes place before the Wall Street crash of 1929 or World War II, and you wonder if Fitzgerald maybe saw it coming, the end of the overwhelming peace and prosperity.

This movie can be viewed in three main acts, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. The first and final acts are the most interesting and compelling, while the middle part drags a bit. Complaints about anachronistic music will find a bit of weight here, if pure verisimilitude is all you care about, but the choices near the start are always thematic and sometimes even subtle. But by the end of the movie, it’s really just a standard movie score, nothing memorable anymore. At times the movie seems pointless and the pacing a bit inconsistent, but the acting is nearly always excellent, although there’s an issue where sometimes the characters don’t talk quite right; meaning that their voice seems anachronistic with the time. Even so, the movie is enjoyable and once you get past the boring, slow part, the final act is truly tense and interesting. As someone who doesn’t really remember the book (I read it many years ago), I found the story to still be interesting and relatable, which means that sometimes adaptations can work even when separated by nearly 100 years from their source.

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PLEASE NOTE: ALL PASSES FOR THESE SCREENINGS HAVE BEEN CLAIMED. THIS OFFER IS CLOSED.

CliqueClack has partnered with Warner Brothers Pictures and Allied Integrated Marketing to offer our readings in the Baltimore, D.C. and Norfolk areas free passes to the advance screening of Baz Lurhmann’s The Great Gatsby starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Isla Fisher, Joel Edgerton and Tobey Maguire. All screenings are presented in 3D and will take place as follows:

• Monday, May 6, 7:00 PM, Cinemark Egyptian, Arundel Mills Mall, Hanover, MD — all passes for this screening have been claimed
• Tuesday, May 7, 7:00 PM, Regal Majestic, Silver Spring, MD — all passes for this screening have been claimed
• Monday, May 6, 7:00 PM, AMC Lynnhaven, Virginia Beach, VA  — all passes for this screening have been claimed

We have a limited number of passes for each screening available on a first come, first served basis.  All you need to do to claim yours is:

• Leave a comment telling us why you want to see this movie.
• Please specify which screening you wish to attend. We will not respond to any comments without a city listed.
• Only one comment per email/IP address. Any duplicates will be held in reserve and spare passes will be distributed the day of the screening.
• Please make sure the email address you have entered is correct. We cannot respond to misspelled email accounts.

This offer will end when all of the passes have been claimed, or by Noon the day of the screening, whichever comes first. Please note that passes do not guarantee you a seat as screenings are overbooked to ensure a full house. CliqueClack has no control over the number of passes available or the seating arrangements at the theaters. Please plan to arrive early to secure a place in line. These passes are sure to be a hot ticket, so leave your comments now (and don’t forget to mention the city!).

The Great Gatsby opens in theaters nationwide on May 10th.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozkOhXmijtk