May 11, 2013 -- There have been a number of attempts to make F. Scott Fitzgerald's great American novel into a great movie. I haven't seen any of the others, but it is safe to say none of them look as colorful and jazzy as this one. This one is like combining the July 4 celebration in Washington with Mardi Gras in New Orleans. It is a feast for the eyes, particularly in 3D.

The story takes place in the roaring 20s in New York. It was an era when it looked like the good times were never going to end. The stock market was on a roll, illegal booze was cheap and plentiful, the music was hot, morals were loose and the future looked rosy. Nobody saw the Great Depression coming just a few years down the road, or another world war after the “War to End All Wars.”

The story plays up the friction between the new rich of that era, represented by Gatsby (played with marvelous fluidity by Leonardo DiCaprio) and old money, represented by Tom Buchanan (Joel Edgerton of “The Odd Life of Timothy Green”). Gatsby had grown up dirt poor, but was able to amass a fortune by hook and crook with the aid of bootleggers and confidence men. Buchanan got his money the old fashioned way. He inherited it, and that, he feels, makes him superior.

Buchanan's wife, Daisy (Carey Mulligan of “Drive”) once had a brief fling with Gatsby and he is determined to get her back. He is convinced she doesn't love her husband. Indeed, her husband, Tom Buchanan, is cheating on her, and she knows it. Buchanan's mistress, Myrtle Wilson (Isla Fisher of “The Lookout”) is married to George Wilson (Jason Clarke of “Lawless”) the drunken, clueless owner of a service station in the poor part of town.

The conflict between Gatsby and Buchanan over Daisy gradually heats up to the boiling point. After a confrontation between the two men and a tragic auto accident involving Myrtle, the story speeds to its conclusion. This conflict reminded me of another “upstairs, downstairs” conflict between upper and lower income men vying for the affections of a wealthy woman. That was in a 1973 film called “The Hireling,” starring Robert Shaw and Sarah Miles.

In “The Great Gatsby,” the story is told in flashback form by a writer, Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire of the “Spider-Man” films) who is being treated for depression and alcoholism at a sanitarium. Carraway is advised by his doctor to write the story of his friendship with Gatsby as a form of therapy.

Writer-director Baz Luhrmann (“Moulin Rouge!”) is able to use this story device so that Carraway's dialog and voice-overs can convey the real strength of the book into the movie: its wonderful prose. As great as the movie looks, the words of F. Scott Fitzgerald, taken from the book and spoken by characters or in voice-overs, are magical. Those wonderful words outshine everything else in the movie. Some claim that “The Great Gatsby” cannot be filmed. Obviously, it can be, but no one yet has managed to equal the artistry of the words in the book.

The performances in this movie are all very good, led by the DiCaprio, who is utterly compelling as Gatsby, but the performances of Maguire, Edgerton and Mulligan are equally strong. The art direction, set design and costumes of this film are all stunning. The cinematography, by Simon Duggan is rich and colorful. The special effects complete this extravagant heap of eye candy. The look of the film, especially in 3D, is so stunning it distracts a bit from the story. Anyway, it is a hell of a show. It rates a B.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in digital formats, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

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