The Great Gatsby. The book was written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, published in 1925. The movie was directed by Baz Luhrmann. Nick Carraway, played by Tobey Magiure, is a new stock broker in the roaring 20s. Carraway rents a little cottage in West Egg, a new money part of Long Island. He gets intrigued by his millionaire neighbor who throws lavish parties and buys all these cars, boats and other things for his friends. He then gets invited to his cousin Daisy’s house, who lives across the bay in East Egg, the old, elegant money part of Long Island. He gets reunited with Daisy’s husband, Tom Buchanan. Tom is a douchey guy, who has multiple affairs all the while flashing around his money and awards as well as how he has met all these important people because he is heir to an extremely wealthy family. Carraway then meets Jordan Baker, a famous golf player. Nick is hesitant to greet her because of how frightening she looks. Jordan questions Nick on West Egg saying she knows someone there by the name of Gatsby. This catches Daisy’s attention, her eyes sort of widening, to which Tom gives her a look and she pretends to not know the name. As dinner is being served, we can see Daisy with sort of a soft smile on her face, obviously thinking about Gatsby. To me, Tom is a character that I dislike already. He pretends to be a know-it-all by rambling about stuff that makes everyone uncomfortable. The phone rings and it turns out, one of Tom’s affair partners is calling. This causes Daisy to get mad at Tom which is completely reasonable. Daisy and Nick look at the other side of the bay while talking about Tom and his infidelity. Tom didn't show up because he was with another woman and this had an extremely negative effect on Daisy. Women were classified as nothing but beautiful fools, and that is how Daisy saw herself. Nothing but a fool. As Nick arrives home, he sees Gatsby on his dock, looking out at the water. But, he is looking at something specifically. Reaching out for something. Daisy’s house.

We then see Tom and Nick go to the Yale club but on the way there, they stop at a mechanic where one of Tom’s partners is. They go back to her place and Tom and her do things. They throw a party but Nick doesn't want to be there because Daisy is his cousin and it's disrespectful. As they party, it starts to get tense, and Myrtle, the affair partner, mentions Daisy. Tom doesn’t like that so he hits her. Taken aback, Nick sneaks out through the fire escape. I also want to mention the choice of music. They used a modern party song instead of music from that time. That really stuck out to me. While Nick watches Gatsby, Gatsby watches back. Nick knows this because he gets invited to one of Gatsby’s parties without ever seeing his face. Only ever seeing the shining ring on his pinky finger. The parties seem very coordinated yet very chaotic. No one has ever seen Gatsby, at least the real one. They have met the spy, the murderer, and the prince. He keeps himself a secret. And this is where we meet Owl Eyes. A man who lives there. Unknowingly, Nick meets him and talks to him, thinking he’s a server at the party. He then reveals himself as Jay Gatsby, who is played by Leonardo Dicaprio. Gatsby and Nick go to lunch and he is explaining his past when he says to Nick that there is something that he can't say. But Jordan can. As they go through the city, there is an underlying truth about Gatsby that he isn't disclosing to Nick. This has been bugging him a lot. Tom runs into Nick, and Nick introduces them but they obviously already know each other but also dislike each other.

Nick then goes to tea with Jordan and he's mad that Gatsby is hiding something from him. Jordan tells him that he wants Nick to invite Daisy to tea. Jordan tells the backstory on them and, long story short, they were in love with each other and seem as though they still are. Gatsby only moved to West Egg to be directly across from Daisy. Just to feel connected to her. He was throwing lavish parties hoping she would show up. Constantly asking Jordan about her. Eventually, Nick invites her for tea at his house with Jay. He is extremely nervous and wants to leave. Right as Daisy comes in, Jay leaves. But of course, comes back. They eventually warm up because Nick leaves and they talk, and even though you can’t hear what they are saying, it's obviously something about them because they can’t take their eyes off each other. They have a beautiful relationship which they cannot pursue. It's sad to watch knowing they can’t be together. Nick starts to narrate about Jay and that his real name is James Gatz and he is from a dirt poor family. Later through the movie, Daisy tells Gatsby she loves him in front of Tom. All he says is let's go into town. Things start to get heated as Tom gets mad about his wife having an affair with the man she was originally with. He's being hypocritical. Jay and Daisy leave and they hit Myrtle, Tom's mistress when she runs out on the street. They try to swerve but she runs into the car still. She dies and Tom comforts her husband and says for him to basically kill Jay, that's what he was implying. It’s then revealed that Daisy was driving and when Jay tried to swerve, Daisy swerved back to kill her. 

I think this movie was amazing. A great representation of the book. One of the few good examples of books being turned into a movie. If you love a good romance movie, this is for you. A great star-crossed lover example. IMDB gives this movie a 7.2/10. I think it deserves a 9.3/10. I would give it a ten if the movie was shorter. Two hour and 22 minute long movie is a bit of a stretch compared to the length of the book. The music choice for the movie is a bit odd seeing as they played modern music for a movie set in 1925. Nonetheless,  I recommend this movie to any and all romance lovers.