The Great Gatsby

I've always felt that The Great Gatsby was one of those books that people said they liked so they couldn't be accused of being stupid. Don't get me wrong, it's beautifully written. F. Scott Fitzgerald is a great writer. There's a reason people today know his name. But I always felt that The Great Gatsby was extremely overrated. It's just not that good of a story, in my opinion. When I read it, the immaturity of everyone in it drove me insane. Especially Daisy. She is just genuinely a terrible person.

There are a few things in stories that drive me crazy. And one of them is immature people. Now, I'm not talking about people who make fart jokes or get drunk all of the time. I'm talking about people who are selfish to the point where they act like children. Daisy is one of those characters. She takes the easy route for everything. I understand that that's the point, but it drives me crazy.

I want to punch her in the face and tell her, for lack of a better phrase, to man up! Take responsibility for your actions! Don't hide behind your horrible husband who is alright with cheating on you, but the second you cheat on him he accuses you of being a terrible person (She is, but not for that reason).

"I love Gatsby, but my husband was being a total 

dick to him and he lost his temper, so now I 

love my dick of a husband again. And I'm gonna let Gatsby 

take the blame for something I did that could have easily been 

resolved, because I'm more important than anyone else!"

And when you hit someone with a car, stop! It's that easy! Especially when the car you were driving is as recognizable as Gatsby's Yellow CUSTOM MADE car! Even today, if you hit someone with your car, if  you just stop and wait for police, if it was a genuine accident, you will not go to jail. You might have to pay fines, but you will not go to jail if it was a genuine accident that could not have been avoided.

The other thing that drives me crazy in stories is when there are little to no characters that are possible to connect to. Even a good villain should have a characteristic that you could identify with. In "The Great Gatsby", Daisy is a lying skank who flip-flops with what she wants, Tom Buchanan is a cheating chauvinist hypocrite, and Jordan is an emotionless drone and Nick Carraway is a follower that never does anything for himself. The only two characters I could begin to connect with are George Wilson and Jay Gatsby. Both were motivated by love and would do anything for it.

Anyway, that's my rant about the story. Cinematically, this film was brilliant. As always with Baz Luhrmann films, it had a very elegant, theatrical feel to it. Beautifully shot, with great set and costume design. But that's to be expected.

I did get tired of the modern songs throughout. Some fit really well, others just stuck out like a sore thumb. It wasn't as seamless as "Moulin Rouge" was.

The editing was iffy, there were so many parts in long shots where the mouths didn't match up with the dialogue, and it happened way more than it normally does.

While watching this, I created a little drinking game. I don't drink, but you all can enjoy it.

• Take a shot of Tequila every time Gatsby calls someone "Ol' Sport" (Don't really... you will die.. maybe just take a sip of beer. You'll still be hammered in no time)
• Take a shot every time Daisy lies.
• Chug a beer anytime Tom Buchanan gets angry at someone for doing something he always does.
• Whenever Nick Caraway does something someone else tells him to do, last person to say "bitch" downs their beer.

I love you, Ol' Sport. You're a beautiful Ol' Sport,

Ol' Sport.

It's in the works, but I'm sure it can turn into something great.

My Grade: Story - C (Not the Movies fault)

                  Technical Aspects - B