Jan Wahl Movie Review: 'The Great Gatsby'

(KCBS) – KCBS Entertainment Editor Jan Wahl reviews "The Great Gatsby", director Baz Luhrmann's attempt to bring F. Scott Fitzgerald's seminal 1920's novel to the big screen.

KCBS Entertainment Reporter Jan Wahl:

 
THE GREAT GATSBY (PG-13)

Let's be grateful for something in this season that is not a superhero. We've been fortunate with 42 and The Sapphires; now it's time for the imaginative Baz Luhrmann to take on F.Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel.

This is the tale of a mysterious and rich man in the Roaring Twenties - or is he trying to pass for rich? Nick narrates; a neighbor to Gatsby and a way to Gatsby's dream woman, Daisy.

Here's what works: the gorgeous sets (fun in 3D), cinematography as intoxicating as a Gatsby party, fabulous period fashion, and Leonardo DiCaprio is charismatic. The bad news is a weird soundtrack that takes us out of the period, a lack of emotional resonance, as if the director relished the period but found the book a burden.

Carey Mulligan is dull and mopey - this Daisy wilts. It should have been a Great Gatsby, instead it's a good Gatsby.

Three hats.

 
Movies To See Right Now: 42, The Sapphires, Kon-Tiki, The Company You Keep and At Any Price

Home Viewing/DVD: Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook & Zero Dark Thirty

 
You can hear KCBS Entertainment Editor Jan Wahl's movie reviews on KCBS All News 740AM and 106.9FM Fridays at 8:53am & 4:53pm.

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• Leonardo DiCaprio