Alright, my title gives away all my feelings and I ought to just leave it at that, but I can't. If you follow me on Twitter (@klghstumpe), then I assume you've seen all my angry tweets after I saw The Great Gatsby, but let's rehash.
For the record, The Great Gatsby is actually one of my favorite books. I read it so many times in high school for fun. I'm a huge fan and when I heard they were doing a movie and my man Leo was going to be Gatsby -- I was ecstatic.
Before I went, I heard the complaints:
- THE MUSIC. How dare they use rap music. This actually didn't bother me going in. I love Jay Z and I figured it would give it a modern take.
- TOBEY WHAT'S HIS FACE. Yeah, I hate him too. And I don't even have the will power to google how to spell his last name because I'm not a fan of him at all. But I figured I could get over it.
Going in, I had moderate expectations and I figured I could get over everyone else's complaints. I was wrong. Dead. Wrong.
First off, I cannot pinpoint exactly what about the movie made it bad. I would be a terrible film critic. But I can tell you that it felt like it was too long. It was a two hour long movie and I felt like we sat in that theatre for 10 hours. A movie shouldn't feel that way.
Secondly, Tobey's face is so annoying that it detracts from the rest of the movie. His acting is terrible, but HIS ACTING ISN'T EVEN THE WORST. Daisy's delivery is so bad. In the book, she is supposed to be this very flippant woman, but the actress forces the lines out and it seems so difficult.
Third, Leo even seemed bad in it. SORRY.
Fourth, what in God's green earth was that framing technique used in the beginning? FRAMING TECHNIQUES ARE NOT HELPFUL.
And lastly, it was just a shit show.
I will say that Tom was exactly how I pictured him and I love the idea of Leo as Gatsby. It was so bad that I almost walked out, but I stuck around to see just how bad it could get. Do yourself a favor and just don't bother with it. Save your money for some cheap champagne and glitter and have a Gatsby night yourself.
Labels: movies, reviews