Baz Luhrmann's adaptation of The Great Gatsby arrives with much fanfare—but, based on the reviews, it looks like those high hopes might be dashed. Critics are mixed on the film as a whole, though no one disputes that it's as bombastic as might be expected from Luhrmann.
- Among the bad reviews is Joe Morgenstern's in the Wall Street Journal. He calls the film "dreadful," noting that the tale of American excess is "told idiotically, full of noise and furor, signifying next to nothing." It's "a spectacle in search of a soul." Another ouch: "Given the lifelessness of the enterprise, there's little point in belaboring its failure to convey the novel's themes."