All the hype, none of the sparkle

For those of you who have read the classic upon which this tale is based, its probably best to leave this one nestled on the shelf amidst other novel knock-offs that just don’t make the grade.

If, on the other hand, you haven’t read the book then this is a brilliant;y colourful tale with which to spend the afternoon.

As one who has read the literature, I was left sorely disappointed.

The movie starts with narrator, Nick Carraway (played adequately by Toby Maguire) languishing in a mental hospital – supposedly in an attempt to curb a drinking problem. This is the backdrop for the story as Nick tells his therapist about his cousin Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan) and the man of the hour Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio). Immediately, my teeth where on edge as F Scott Fitgerald certainly never put his narrator in a mental asylum.

Added to the jarring realization that the story will be told from this vantage is the fact that the movie lacks (to borrow an idea from the Mad Hatter in another film) muchness. Nothing is enough to do justice to the opulence of the novel.

From the parties at Gatsby’s home to Tom Buchanan’s love affair with Myrtle Wilson (Isla Fisher) and Daisy subsequently killing her in a vehicle accident, the book simply does it on a far grander and more amusing scale.

Set in the 1920s, the movie version of Gatsby’s summer of influence simply doesn’t appear to fit into the roaring ‘20s audience members like myself were dying to see enacted on the screen.