The Great Gatsby- Teen Movie Review

It’s been 24 hours since I saw this movie, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since. The characters, the setting and what the film symbolized; prohibition, the Jazz Age, one’s social status, and the American Dream. It was the summer of 1922; a recent Yale graduate named Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) moved to New York for business, and rented a house in West Egg on Long Island; which was populated with people of “new money.” Next door to Nick lived a mysterious man named Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio). Gatsby lived in a gothic mansion, where he had extravagant parties every Saturday night. Across the bay, in East Egg, lived Nick’s cousin Daisy (Carey Mulligan), and her wealthy, blue-blooded husband, Tom (Joel Edgerton).  As the summer progressed Nick attended Gatsby’s opulent parties and became involved in the lives of the materialistic and corrupted; the wealthy Long Islanders, along with Daisy, Tom and Gatsby! Based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel, The Great Gatsby is a wonderful, educational film for teenagers.

Rating: 3  and 1/2 buckets out of 5
Release Date: May 10, 2013
MPAA Rating: PG13
Best Age Group: 13+
Sexual Content: Moderate
Violent Content: Mild
Crude or Profane Language: Mild
Drugs and Alcohol Content: Excessive
Will Kids Like It? Yes (teenagers)

See a clip of my review here!

See the trailer here!

Talking Points:

This is a great film for teenagers to see. First off the film is very true to the book, which most high school students have to read. The movie explored themes of decadence, idealism and materialism. The character’s lived very extravagant lives, but in the end the material things didn’t mean a thing. Their lives were empty! Though Gatsby had his big and elegant parties;  he really only had one true friend…Nick!

Leonardo DiCaprio was perfect for the part of Gatsby, as Tobey Maguire was for playing the role of Nick Caraway.

The film was slow in parts. Due to the mature subject matter,  I feel that young kids (12 and under) would not like the movie.

Sexual Content: Moderate

• We saw Daisy (Nick’s cousin) and Gatsby in bed kissing; it was implied they had a sexual encounter. Daisy is married to Tom.
• We heard Tom (Daisy’s husband) and his mistress Myrtle, having a sexual encounter.
• Tom and Myrtle had a party; we saw men and women in their underwear; passionately kissing. Once again, Tom and Myrtle are both married to other people.

Violent Content: Mild

• A male character slapped a female character.
• Gatsby grabbed Tom and threatened to hit him, though he didn’t.
• We saw a character getting hit and killed by a speeding car.
• A character was shot in the back, and died.
• A character committed suicide.

Crude or Profane Language: Mild

• We heard; “b–ch,” “d–n,” and “h–l.”

Drugs and Alcohol Content: Excessive

• The drinks were flowing; throughout the film. We saw character’s staggering around, dancing and acting silly from too many drinks!
• We saw characters smoking throughout the film as well.

Will Kids Like It? Yes (mature teens)

Overall The Great Gatsby is a film that most teenagers will enjoy. There are  valuable messages woven throughout the film, there’s an educational element to the film;  it’s also a movie that will spark a great parent child conversation. I recommend this for kids ages 13 and up.

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