Wretched Excess

What kind of maniac tries to adapt The Great Gatsby? Few books are legitimate touchstones in American culture, and for better or for worse, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s sits atop that very short list. It’s a perennial bestseller and a staple of high school English classes across the country, and yet in all of its years, it hasn’t spawned a single decent movie. The Great American Novel can’t seem to inspire The Great American Film.

Despite director Baz Luhrmann’s manic attempt to will Fitzgerald’s words to screen, The Great Gatsby (in 3D!) has about as much success fulfilling that wish as its titular, tragic hero does with his own. Both desperately try to recreate a beautiful thing of the past, but only in Luhrmann’s case does failure feel so bloodless and forged. Gatsby meets a tragic end, shot dead in a pool after being abandoned by the

Article source: http://www.metroweekly.com/arts_entertainment/film.php?ak=8328

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