Deborah Ross

The Great Gatsby dazzles Deborah Ross

issue 18 May 2013

OK, old sports, Baz Luhrmann’s version of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, as produced by Jay-Z, and with Kanye West on the soundtrack, has already riled the purists, who are grumbling and railing and basically queuing up to say it sucks, it’s a travesty, nothing like the book, doesn’t even come close, but you know what? You can tell them all to go hang. This is fantastically enjoyable, and a blast. It is wild and rampant and thrilling. It’s the best film I’ve seen since the last best film I saw, whatever and whenever that was. So tell them to go hang plus, if you are in the mood, you may wish to add: ‘But has it stayed true to Fitzgerald’s vision of a Kanye West soundtrack?’ I think it has but, again, I may be on my own with this one.

It’s a long film, at two and a half hours, but it won’t seem like it, and for the first hour or so you may even feel as if you are on some kind of Great Gatsby theme-park ride at a Disneyland somewhere.

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