i don't know how the director did this, but he somehow made F. Scott Fitzgerald's timeless classic into a dull, insipid TV movie. i could hardly bear though this massacre. many of the important symbols dealing with the loss of morals, hopes and dreams were dimmed to nothing or omitted while others like the eyes of god dominated the show.
Look-wise, i really like the casting of Mira Sorvino[Daisy Fay Buchannan] and Paul Rudd [Nick Carraway]; however Tony Stephens counterbalances their beauty as he tackles the role of Jay Gatsby. Stephens' priggish smile made me want to laugh when the emotions of Daisy Fay (should have) made me want to cry.
Emotionally, many of the scenes were also dumbed down. Granted this was a made for TV movie, i probably shouldn't have expected a follow-up performance by Mira Sorvino. her performace, amongst everyone else's, was terrible. where were her emotions when she reunited with gatsby? where were her emotions after she ran over Myrtle? More importantly, where were everyone's emotions when all the characters are juxtaposed in that New York apartment?
Please, Robert Markowitz, next time you try adapting a classic, spend more time on the ideas that the writer spent long nights up trying to put into words. if i were fitzgerald, i would be insulted.
