THE GREAT GATSBY MOVIE

Overall I would have to say not bad to the makers of the Great Gatsby, not bad at all.  I'm sure some purists are not going to like the film, but that's really inevitable with any film rendition of a classic novel.  I think considering the fact that you really can't directly translate the essence of a written story onto a screen, the makers of this film did a pretty good job trying to translate to the best of their ability.  Now there were definitely some overly modern touches (i.e the party scenes) but I think that was their attempt to try to make the movie accessible and entertaining to a contemporary audience with no knowledge of the book for time period.  And what I would say to anyone trying to devalue the film over those aspects is that sometimes you have to speak to people in their own terms so they can try to understand your message.  I think the filmmakers did an awesome job of trying to communicate the relative emotional state and events of the 1920's and if you don't understand that element of the novel, the events and emotions of the characters just don't really make sense.

Now, there was definitely some overacting and I wasn't the biggest fan of their interpretation of Nick Carraway (they tried to insert too much of Fitzgerald into him) but overall I thought the casting was really well don't and definitely fit with the images I created in my own head when reading the story.  What I disliked the most was the parts where the screen writers were clearly trying to add in lines to the story and imitate Fitzgerald but it really just didn't go too well.  But what I loved most was the sense at the end of the movie, that the people creating this film really truly valued the book itself and were merely trying to share it in a new way rather than redo it.  I mean certain things just don't need to be fixed or interpreted and the movie definitely stuck to the plot line and the spirit of the character developments of the novel.  (And I really like the interpretation of the title at the end!)

I recommend that everyone give it a viewing and decide for themselves what they think though, because even if you aren't the biggest fan of it as a version of the novel, I think you will still enjoy The Great Gatsby as a movie experience of its own.  Share what you think!  Happy Viewing!