phd_travel
This is the worst adaptation of the Great Gatsby ever.The main fault is the bad casting.Mira Sorvino doesn't look the part physically. She has this silly expression on her face throughout and speaks in a very strange voice. Mia Farrow was so much better. Toby Stephens is too scowling and posturing for the role. He makes Robert Redford look like a good actor. Paul Rudd looks ill at ease as well and not of the era.Don't bother with this one at all. The production has a cheap feel. Why did they bother? This ranks with the Catherine Oxenberg Tom Conti Roman Holiday as one of the most needless remakes in history.
doromafr
This is the best adaptation of the book into film, that I have ever seen. The whole production is stunning. Toby Stephens is superb as Jay Gatsby (you'd never know he's a British actor...his American access is uncanny). When I saw this film, I was not familiar with Toby Stephens ( I have since seen him on Jane Eyre, as Rochester...fabulous performance!!), but I was very impressed by his portrayal of Gatsby (I thought he was an American actor). Mira Sorbino's interpretation of Daisy, captured the character perfectly. I found the 1974 film, with Mia Farrow and Robert Redford, rather boring and not true to the book. You'll enjoy the photography and the fine performances by Paul Rudd and Martin Donovan. Markowitz directed a fine film! I know you'll take pleasure, in this delightful version.
kayaker36
There could at last be a satisfying adaptation of this classic novel of the Jazz Age if the two half-good versions were combined, keeping from each the best. We would keep the sets, costumes, musical score and performances by Sam Waterston, Howard Da Silva and some others from the 1974 mega- production, and from this extremely modest but more literary adaptation, keep Mira Sorvino's Daisy Buchanan, Martin Donovan's Tom and the liberal sprinkling of Scott Fitzgerald's polished prose.As Daisy, a "beautiful little fool", the Harvard educated Ms. Sorvino is not ideal but more convincing than Mia Farrow--who was too English and looked actually old though I understand now she was pregnant, and only 28. The best performance here was by Martin Donovan, familiar to television audiences by face if not by name, and that is the problem. His Tom Buchanan is sensitive and restrained, in fact too sympathetic for the bigoted bully and skirt chaser he is supposed to be portraying. Donovan steals every scene from the inexperienced Toby Stephens and when Daisy is won back, the viewer can believe it is because Tom is really the better man. This totally distorts what author Scott Fitzgerald was saying.Daisy Buchanan stays with Tom because she has chosen respectability over love, making her even more rotten than her husband and quite undeserving of The Great Gatsby.
Carla Leahy
This version of Gatsby came with the best of intentions--to remain as close to the novel as possible. It did so, but that, in my opinion, was its downfall. This movie is an authentic, but drab, adaptation.I've read the book on many occasions. As a reader, I am fascinated by this Fitzgerald masterpiece. Something new and exciting catches my attention every time.In a movie, however, I'm looking for all the frills that came with the 1974 version: An all-star cast; an expensive, elaborate set; never-ending excitement, and a feeling that the movie ended too soon. To those who enjoyed this version: Please rent 1974's. Whether or not you agree with my point of view--I think you will understand its basis.
AD
