The Great Gatsby (2013)

The Great Gatsby (PG-13)

"Party Hardly"

Still struggling to find another monster hit after a decade following "Moulin Rouge,"  Australian eccentric Director extraordinaire Baz Lurhmann sets his sites on the great American novel standard The Great Gatsby and generates a film that would have cost Gatsby his great bootlegging fortune, leaving him penniless and heartbroken yet again.

Leo DiCaprio (The Departed) stars as Gatsby, and is perfect in the role as a wealthy mystery man with a savoir fair for parties.  He is partnered with Spider-Man's Tobey McGuire as his doe-eyed neighbor Nick, who gains his friendship and cupid's wings regarding his past love (Carey Mulligan).  The story is well known, but the roaring 20s are brought to life by stupendous costuming and overzealous set design, while the movie falls flat on its straw hat as the jazz gives way to hip-hop rap stars and becomes overladen with CGI whizbang camera moves.  The whole endeavor is devoid of an actual soul, which is particularity troubling considering Fitzgerald's much beloved book is brimming with it and foretells a future where riches and wealth might preclude class and upbringing in society, much like Baz's film becomes completely three-upped by Scorsese's Wolf of Wall Street (also starring Leo, speaking to American greed and released the same year).  Wolf makes its point with a bigger bang than Gatsby's model T, which goes out with an odorous backfire.

3 Dimensions, I'll stick with 2 out of 10 (BAD)