The Great Gatsby

Director Baz Luhrmann and his co-writer Craig Pearce give us their take on F. Scott Fitzgerald's melancholy tale of the mysterious Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his wistful obsession with the winsome Daisy Buchanan (Carey Mulligan). Luhrmann stomps around in Fitzgerald's meticulous, diffident prose with his usual obnoxious vulgarity, now even more overbearing in 3-D. But splinters of Fitzgerald keep floating to the surface despite all Luhrmann's efforts to bury them in a thick varnish of garish CGI: DiCaprio is at his best, capturing Gatsby's blend of worldliness and naiveté, while Mulligan's selfishly alluring Daisy is luscious as a lemon drop. Other good actors struggle to be seen: Tobey Maguire, Joel Edgerton and newcomer Elizabeth Debicki, a real discovery. Call it The Not Half-Bad Gatsby.