( CNN ) -- `` Great Gatsby '' director Baz Luhrmann is n't the type to be cowed by literary pedigree , not even that of F. Scott Fitzgerald . His movies , including `` William Shakespeare 's Romeo + Juliet , '' are like watching a three-ring circus . They revel in surface , spectacle and sensory overload . They 're audaciously , passionately artificial and at the same time unabashedly romantic -- post-modern pop medleys aimed at the heart , not the brain . Perhaps Luhrmann even identifies with Fitzgerald 's Jay Gatsby ; after all , they 're both decadents . But Fitzgerald was n't Gatsby , and Gatsby could never have written such a novel . It takes an observer like Nick Carraway ( Tobey Maguire ) to distill the finer sentiments from this sorry tale of the super-rich , and Luhrmann is n't that . He 's an extrovert who wants to thrill us and immerse us in his giddy daring . The last thing he wants to do is sit back and watch . There are no two ways about it : `` The Great Gatsby '' is misconceived and misjudged , a crude burlesque on what 's probably American literature 's most precious jewel . Shopping Gatsby : 15 items you 'll love . Warning bells go off right from the first shots of a CGI version of New York 's Long Island . The camera is in a state of constant agitation , while the actors -- and they 're good actors -- seem to have been instructed to vamp . Either that , or they decided it was the only way to compete with the film 's garish hot deco . But let 's give Luhrmann his due : The man does cut a good teaser . The idea to swap Scott Joplin for Jay-Z and ragtime for rap was a bold and brilliant choice . Casting Leonardo DiCaprio as the glamorous , elusive billionaire Gatsby and Maguire as his modest , admiring neighbor was right on . Carey Mulligan as Daisy was n't as inspired . She gets the sadness of the character but not the flip side of her personality , and she 's just not a bright enough spark to keep Gatsby 's torch burning for so long . And shooting in 3-D ? Look at `` Hugo '' and `` Life of Pi '' : It could have worked . Yet Luhrmann seems utterly bamboozled by the technique , as if it 's thrown off his rhythm . The early scenes especially are likely to induce motion sickness , and not just because Nick is getting drunk on New York 's high society . We know Luhrmann can throw a wild party , but the movie does n't build or grow ; it just keeps hitting the same high notes until we go numb to the din . And if he 's lost in the loud revelry , Luhrmann is completely out of his element in the more intimate scenes . The reunion between Jay and Daisy is played for laughs ( and it gets a couple , too ) , but Luhrmann shortchanges whatever it is that pulls these lovers together . For such an elaborate display of courtship , it 's a remarkably unsensual affair . Fitzgerald 's `` The Great Gatsby '' will endure this indignity as surely as it outlasted previous versions with Alan Ladd and Robert Redford . It 's a shame , though , since the novel 's depiction of a society dancing on the edge of a precipice is so timely . It 's hard not to feel angry at the waste .
Baz Luhrmann is known for sensory overload with his movies . `` Gatsby '' needs an observant storyteller , which Luhrmann is n't . The adaptation is misconceived and misjudged . Nevertheless , the novel will endure this indignity .