I should start by saying I didn’t care for the book.
I get all the symbolism, so shut up. I just didn’t care for the story. I feel like I could have had a waay better time in prohibition New York than any of the retards in the story. Also I feel like Gatsby wouldn’t have risen to the near top of organized crime. He’s A) not smart enough or B) ruthless enough or C) crazy enough.
I like the movie better than the book. All the actors do fine, no part in this story asks a great deal of anyone. I probably mostly like it because the visuals were larger than life while not making the movie look too green screened and the soundtrack was very quality.
And Leo has become adept at playing the dude you root for. Not sure how that happened, but it did.
Anyway the movie nails what the only point of the story: What happened before is what really happened. There’s no going back. You can dump all the money time and effort you want, life only flows in one direction.
Even if you dislike the book, this film is eminently watchable.