THE GREAT GATSBY Review - Nice try, Old Sport.

Baz Lurhmann does not have the best eye when it comes to film. People will defend him to no end, but I don't understand why. His type of art is very different, which to anyone else, I would respect it. He gave ROMEO AND JULIET guns and pop-rock music, allowed the cast of MOULIN ROUGE to rape Nirvana's SMELL LIKE TEEN SPIRIT, and found a cure for insomnia with AUSTRALIA. Yet, a lot of people still receive him positively.

This is shocking to me because his best film, THE GREAT GATSBY, has been received so negatively by critic-circles. On one hand, it still isn't a good movie, but it isn't a terrible movie. It has its moments and doesn't really hurt anything, but I can't see this movie being Baz Lurhmann's fault. He and cinematographer Simon Duggan has filmed a movie so beautiful that it may be too beautiful. THE GREAT GATSBY's failures lie in the hands of the three editors connected to the project.

Baz Lurhmann, being Baz Lurhmann, changed a bit of the story from the classic F. Scott Fitzgerald book (which I don't think it is a classic by any means). Instead of sticking completely true to the book, we meet our main character slash narrator Nick (Tobey Maguire) in a mental institution due to alcohol abuse. This works in the favor of the original book because I always found Nick's narration to be shakey.

But this also becomes a problem with the movie. Nick writes everything down to express his feelings because he don't want to talk about it. And as he narrates it, the words play out on the screen. This is probably the director's way of reitterating it, but it don't work as well as it should. In my opinion, it dumbs down the themes and how the story is told.

But anyway, the story continues as you remember it from the story. Nick tells the story of how he moved in to a small cottage in the West Egg of Long Island, next to this big mansion owned by some mysterious guy who throws these banger parties. Apparently, he has a time machine too, because he likes to play a lot of Jay Z and will.i.am. Who would ever use a time machine to play will.i.am., I have no idea. But that isn't the point.

Nick goes to visit his cousin Daisy (Carey Mulligan) who is married to Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton) on the East Egg of Long Island. One day, Tom takes Nick out to the "Valley of Ashes", where they stop at this car garage owned by George Wilson, who is played by Jason Clarke. They share a bit of dialogue, where Edgerton asks Clarke if he remembers the good ol' days trying to hunt Osama Bin Laden.

Anyway, George Wilson's mistress Myrtle (Isla Fisher) is cheating on her husband with Tom and she throws this hotel party and everything goes cuckoo, and Nick discovers he really likes alcohol. He is invited to another party, this time next door at the mansion that is owned by a man named Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio). He discovers he really likes alcohol again and makes a fool out of himself to Gatsby. But Gatsby takes a liken to him. Probably because his time-travel machine reveals to him that in about eighty years, Tobey Maguire will be humiliated as an emo-Spiderman.

But Gatsby's real reason of wanting to get close to Nick is because he knows that Nick has some kind of contact with Daisy, who he once fell in love with at this party. So Gatsby gets Nick to arrange for a tea-party and invites Daisy, and this affair begins.

Of course, I'm not really spoiling anything. From here on out, it is actually pretty close to the book in terms of plot, and the only thing that is off as far as anachronisms go is the music. However, I understand that jazz music isn't as hip as Jay Z so it's understandable. I'm just happy that there isn't a character that uses a cell-phone, because that would be truly disappointing.

You haven't read me talk about my obsession with mise-en-scene yet because there haven't been many movies this year that have mastered the craft of that yet. There is one film that comes to mind (STOKER) and I will be reviewing that come DVD time. However, Baz Lurhmann's THE GREAT GATSBY has a keen eye for mise-en-scene. If you don't know what mise-en-scene is, it is a French term for what is exactly going on in a single shot. Where the actors are placed. What is going on in the background. How the characters are acting.

We get that THE GREAT GATSBY looks beautiful, but something has to be said about the wonderful cinematography. Shots of this movie are flooded with excellent detail. A particular scene near the beginning of the movie when we first meet Daisy is when curtains are flying all over the room due to the windows being open. When the windows close, Daisy is revealed. It is probably the best scene that Lurhmann has ever directed in his career.

However, mise-en-scene is only perfect if the editing is just as detailed as the picture is. A few transitions in the film are really messy, and during the driving scenes, the lighting is very off and becomes obvious that there is use of a green screen. The film is a textbook lesson to what makes a film look good, but a lesson on how to fail at an editing course.

But there are moments of pure bliss in THE GREAT GATSBY, and this is coming from somebody who doesn't like the book at all. The scene in the hotel where Tom and Gatsby go at it is very well-acted and well-detailed. The sweat on the characters' faces in that scene looks about as detailed as the amounts of confetti used in one of the party scenes. The scene where Gatsby and Daisy meet for the first time is very light and comedic. It's actually kind of... you know... sweet.

I have to admit that I didn't really find Leonardo DiCaprio to be a convincing enough Gatsby. Where DiCaprio has plenty of charm, there are moments that his character has to feel weak and DiCaprio just can't pull them scenes off right. Tobey Maguire, however, plays weak throughout the whole film, and never really controls the film at any time. If any cast member truly shines in this film, it is Carey Mulligan. She brings her own sort of talent to the role of Daisy Buchanan, adding a twist of innocence to her role.

But I find it hard to believe that people of my generation and generations after are going to look at this adaptation of THE GREAT GATSBY as the definitive adaptation of it. The 1974 film is quite bad, so I feel like it is a shame that this is going to be the best GREAT GATSBY movie we will ever get. What could have been a homerun with the right type of casting and better editing is left with a shitty soundtrack and words on screen. I feel more sympathy for Baz Lurhmann than I ever felt for Gatsby himself. He deserved a better editing crew, and the fans of the book deserved a better GATSBY movie.