Spiderman is in The Great Gatsby

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So, today I saw the new The Great Gatsby movie, to which I say "eh". I love the novel, but the movie version of The Great Gatsby sort of disappointed me. Sure, the movie was really cool from a visual standpoint, but it wasn't The Great Gatsby as it was written.

They really took the substance out of the story and made it one long frat party, set to hip-hop music. Which didn't make a lot of sense to me, given that The Great Gatsby is supposed to be set in the 1920s. Apparently, no one told Baz Luhrmann. The problem with his adaptation is that Luhrmann was so heavy handed with the story. I mean, if the metaphors were any more obvious, they would jump out of the screen and beat you over the head with a herring.

However, all those things are forgivable. What was not forgivable was the casting of Tobey Maguire as Nick Carraway. I say that not because his acting was bad, but because there is no place for Spider-Man in The Great Gatsby. Seriously, that was practically all I could think about the entire movie. It was like, "look, Spider-Man is getting drunk", "look, Spider-Man and Jack Dawson are going to the beach; maybe next, they'll team up and save the Titanic". Every minute, I was expecting Leonardo DiCaprio to turn into the Green Goblin and have it out with Nick Carraway over Mary Jane/ Daisy Buchanan. That's because Tobey Maguire is sort of one of those actors that you will only ever associate with a single role. It would have been better if they cast a less recognizable actor for the role.

Speaking of Nick Carraway's role; I wasn't happy that Luhrmann decided to make him the author of The Great Gatsby. It was unneccessary framing to give the story a meaning that, if the producers had followed the original text, it would have already had.

However, it wasn't all bad. There were some good parts: Gatsby's lawn had some lovely turf.

Just readin'

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