Leonardo DiCaprio's $354M Period Drama Critics Hated Is Already on Netflix

Summary:

• Francis Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby has been adapted many times, but Baz Luhrmann 's 2013 film is perhaps the most successful on-screen version of the classic.
• The director managed to capture the atmosphere of the Roaring Twenties and assembled a great cast – Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire and Carey Mulligan.
• Despite the positive response from audiences, critics panned the film, calling it empty, tasteless, and failing to capture the spirit of the original novel.
• Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby is now available to watch with a Netflix subscription.

Francis Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby did not become a bestseller upon its publication, even though it was made into a movie a year later, in 1926.

But with each new decade, the novel about the Roaring Twenties and old-fashioned love gained more and more cult status.

At the same time, the quality of the film adaptations of the novel and the ambitions of their directors increased.

2013’s The Great Gatsby is Now on Netflix

The most recent adaptation of the novel to date, which you can now watch on Netflix, is done on a grand scale: it's Baz Luhrmann's dazzling and over-the-top celebration released in 2013. Luhrmann does a better job than anyone of conveying the greed and excess of the easy-money era.

The film won Oscars for Best Costume and Best Production Design – a case where Luhrmann's signature style was perfectly in tune with the spirit of the times Fitzgerald wrote about, even if this version is not particularly accurate to the details of the era.

The Great Gatsby Has an Exceptional Cast

The narrator, Nick, who suffered greatly in this version and ended up in the hospital, was played by Tobey Maguire.

And perhaps this is one of the most successful incarnations of the character on the screen. His Nick is attentive, reserved and distant, remaining calm in the midst of the storm of passions raging around him.

But the most important success and discovery of the movie is, of course, Leonardo DiCaprio in the role of Jay Gatsby – only he managed to play him as a true man of mystery.

DiCaprio manages to be a gentleman, a poor man, a billionaire, a romantic and a businessman without destroying the integrity and truthfulness of the created character.

Carey Mulligan, who played the role of the dream girl Daisy Buchanan, also deserves special mention.

A charming blonde with a short haircut and exquisite clothes is put on a pedestal by her former lover and becomes the personification of a distant dream. Mulligan's Daisy seems to leave the pages of the novel, remaining as dazzling as she is unattainable.

Baz Luhrmann’s Movie Was Panned by Critics

However, despite the enthusiasm of ordinary viewers, professionals did not appreciate the movie – now its rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes is only 48%.

It was called empty, too glamorous, tasteless, and failed to capture the spirit of the original novel.

If you haven't seen Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby yet, you can now watch it on Netflix and make up your own mind.