Review

Jane and I just came home from seeing the Great Gatsby. There was a fundraiser for Project Angel Food and since I’m absolutely delighted to give them money while getting nothing in return I was just as delighted to buy a couple of tickets to see Gatsby at the Real D screening room in Beverly Hills.

If you ever have an opportunity to see a movie at Real D say yes even if you care nothing about the movie. I’ve never seen a picture like the one I saw tonight and we weren’t watching the show in 3D.

If you loved Moulin Rouge you will love Gatsby, end of story. If you want to look at colors so vivid that you’re sometimes wondering if the film is animated this is the movie for you. If you get excited when the scenes are quick and jump back and forth from character to character sometimes while one is still talking then Gatsby is made for you. If you want to look at beautiful people, stunning homes and sexy as hell cars then Gatsby is for you.

If you think that overly narrated movies cheat on their story telling then you should stay home. If Toby Maguire’s inability to open his mouth when he speaks irritates you then you should stay home.

In keeping with the story the movie is absolutely over the top and in many places the voice over lends itself to the general sense that we’re with Nick Carraway (who is a writer) but at some points it’s distracting and I wanted to say, “Oh Spiderman just shut the hell up and show us the story.” But I think that was mostly me as the rest of the audience (there were about 100 of us) were positively enthralled.

The music was spectacular. It is genius to take hip hop and sell it to the audience as 20’s and speaks to the timelessness of the tale as well as to the import of music.

It doesn’t matter what I say, you’ll see the movie and you’ll love it in spite of yourself. It’s flawed, deeply flawed, but it’s tragic, beautiful and sexy and that’s what America loves in a movie.