Not a bad time, but a mixed adaptation. Arguably the best adaptation that’s ever been done of this classic (largely thought to be unadaptable) book, but that doesn’t mean it really captures the essence.
What Works: Jay Gatsby is one of my favorite literary characters, and there’s no question that Leonardo DiCaprio is the right actor to portray the romantic, upwardly-striving gangster. He gets at a neurotic, eternal optimism in his portrayal that Robert Redford barely even attempted in the last, underwhelming adaptation of The Great Gatsby. And the film is rarely boring, getting the flash (as described through Nick Carraway’s awestruck narrator) just about right.
What Doesn’t Work: Is the rest of the film well-cast? Tobey Maguire is serviceable as Nick/Narrator, but never more than that. Carey Mulligan is only so-so as Daisy Buchanan. But the film’s real source of “good artist, wrong project” may be Baz Luhrmann’s direction. He’s such a visceral, flashy filmmaker and it overwhelms the book’s largely moody, internalized atmosphere. Most of the real action in The Great Gatsby (the novel) is inside the hearts of its core characters, but Baz is just a little too kinetic and amped-up to really get across the more introspective ideas and moods.
What I Would Have Done Differently: On one season of Entourage, they pitched a “Gatsby” project directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role. And I think Scorsese’s muscular romanticism (there’s no question he’s got serious love for all his flawed protagonists…it bleeds through all his work) would have been just right for this project.