YMMV / The Great Gatsby (2013)

• Adorkable: Jay's sheer awkwardness when he meets Daisy after five years is both endearing and funny.
• Awesome Music:
  • Daisy's Lullaby (The Great Gatsby Rap)
  • "I can't stop-op-op-op-op-op-op-op..."
  • "Over the Love" by Florence + the Machine is exquisite.
  • Filter's Cover Version of "Happy Together" by The Turtles which was used in the second trailer. Sadly, it's not included in the soundtrack since this song is first used for the OST of the 2009 film, The Stepfather.
  • "Young and Beautiful" by Lana Del Rey couples as a Tear Jerker. Especially when considering it's written from Daisy's perspective.
  • Emeli Sande's spectacular 1920s jazz rendition of "Crazy in Love" by Beyoncé.
  • The score by Craig Armstrong is good in its own right and despite almost getting drowned put by the pop songs, it was thankfully released for those who are curious to hear it.
• Award Snub: A lot of critics were disappointed that Lana Del Rey's "Young and Beautiful" didn't get nominated for Best Original Song at the Oscars. And despite that one of the nominated songs, "Alone Yet Not Alone", got its nomination revoked due to violating the promotional regulations, "Young and Beautiful" didn't get to fill the spot.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment:
  • Several. Nick watches a black man riding in a car with a white chauffeur (this was in the novel as well).
  • Three waiters beat up a drunk outside of Gatsby's house.
• Broken Base:
  • The soundtrack which is produced by Jay-Z. Baz Luhrmann thought that fusing jazz with hip-hop would attract the modern audience. Some people found it a bit jarring and still prefer the classic jazz without the rapping. However, there are those who like it and having Lana Del Rey and Florence + the Machine as contributors would help.
  • On that note, letting a director known for his flashy, indulgent style adapt a novel condemning that very style. Some think it's a good idea, others think it's a horrible one. Some might argue it's Baz's method of a deconstruction, or merely that it's a visual translation of Fitzgerald's prose, being very cinematic to match his very literary tone. To Luhrmann's credit, he tries to portray the introspective moments of the story with just as much flair as he does the other elements.
• Critical Dissonance: Critics gave the movie mixed reviews with a 50% rating in Rotten Tomatoes. However, the movie was doing well in the box office, landing at No.2 when it first came out. Its critical reviewers' score also sits at about 50%, whereas the viewers' score is 67%.
• Do Not Do This Cool Thing: For a movie based on a book condemning the flashiness of the 20s, the extravagant parties and Scenery Porn were arguably the best part of the movie.
• Genius Bonus:
  • The bandleader at Gatsby's parties is named Trimalchio, which is a shout-out to Satyricon where a character by the same name is famous for his elaborate parties. Additionally "Trimalchio" and "Trimalchio in West Egg" were possible titles for the book.
  • At the end of the "'Can't repeat the past'? Of course you can!" scene, Gatsby walks between a statue of two ravens which could represent Oden's ravens Huginn (thought) and Muninn (memory) — appropriate since Gatsby's thoughts are always on his memories of Daisy.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: During an early scene in the movie, Tom Buchanan jokes about the remote possibility of marriage between white and black people. Joel Edgerton later portrayed Richard Loving in Loving (2016), a film about the landmark decision made by the U.S. Supreme Court which struck down all state laws banning interracial marriage.
• Ho Yay: Nick meets Gatsby. The use of George Gershwin ''Rhapsody in Blue'' makes it that much better.
  • The opening of the movie has a marked similarity to Baz Luhrmann's other film Moulin Rouge! where the protagonist is introduced mourning the death of his beloved and writing about their time together, which is used as a Framing Device for the rest of the movie.
  • When Nick brings Daisy to meet Gatsby at his house, he stays outside of the room and hears her shocked reaction (which he assumes is to seeing Gatsby). His expression can easily be compared to a situation involving I Just Want My Beloved to Be Happy.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • Due to both being played by Leonardo Dicaprio, the Epileptic Trees joke that Jack Dawson and Jay Gatsby are the same person has gained a bit of traction, especially with how Titanic was set in the 1910s and The Great Gatsby was set in the 1920s, leading to jokes about Jack faking his death and getting rich ten years later.
  • "Old Sport" has become a somewhat popular thing to say on tumblr.
  • Jay Gatsby toasting a martini glass has become a popular image macro.
  • “YOU SHUT UP! SHUT UP! YOU SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!”
  • “You can’t repeat the past.” “Of course you can!” ^ExplanationSince Nick is played by Tobey Maguire, this exchange between him and Gatsby became popular after Maguire returned as Spider-Man in Spider-Man: No Way Home along with Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina and Thomas Haden Church.
• Misaimed Fandom: If the trailers—filled with Gorgeous Period Dress and Scenery Porn—are any indication, there may be an increase in misaimed fandom…
  • Especially now that Gatsby is played by Leonardo DiCaprio, Gatsby is being treated as a Tragic Hero by fandom, for all the wrong reasons. The Fandom sees him as the ultimate Woobie who lost out on his true love. In the story, Gatsby is a Tragic Hero, not necessarily because he failed to end up with Daisy, but because he dedicated his endless talent and ambition trying to become part of a society that cared nothing for him.
  • Along the same lines, the movie led to a disturbing amount of viewers who began to search for the Gatsby to their Daisy or vice versa, much like Romeo and Juliet, grossly misinterpreting the film if they even watched it at all.
• One-Scene Wonder: Owl-Eyes.
  • And that wild organ player, Ewing Klipsringer.
  • Meyer Wolfshiem.
• Retroactive Recognition: Two of Gatsby's associates - Herzog the butler and Trimalchio the emcee - later reappeared two years later in another Australian film as minions of Immortan Joe (the Bullet Farmer and the Coma-Doof Warrior respectively).
• Romantic Plot Tumor: Some criticize the film for trying to turn it into an outright love story between Daisy and Gatsby. The best example of this would be that the scene where Gatsby sees Daisy's daughter and realizes that things can't go back to exactly how they were is entirely omitted.
• Signature Scene: Jay Gatsby holding up a martini glass with fireworks in the sky has become an iconic meme even to those who haven't seen the film.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: Most of the backgrounds are shot in CGI as shown in the VFX Breakdown video.
  • The 3D is very well done, with every blast of confetti stretching the format to its zenith. The 3D even earned praise from Christopher Nolan, who is famously disdainful of 3D.