James Franco is a guy whose actual occupation is progressively harder to pin down every day, being the multidisciplinary status thing demands his fingers to be in all sorts of pies at any given time. This time we’re reporting on James Franco The Film Critic, and he has penned a review of Baz Lurhmann‘s adaptation of The Great Gatsby for Vice.
Opinions of the film are rampant and overcrowded, and Franco acknowledges the bulk of the hate; the main critiques. As it stands, reviews over at Rotten Tomatoes are at a cumulative score of 49% (based on 175 reviews) if that’s any indication of the perception anomalies that are unavoidable when classic literature is translated into film. Franco scoffs at such wanky assertions. He says fuck that, and instead takes a more measured, pragmatic stance. He’s for the 3D. He’s on board with the music. He says ‘the movie held together.’
Adopting a very ‘of the times’ attitude, he praises Lurhmann’s transcendental vision and ability to retain the novel’s essence with respects to the contemporary audience.
On Gatsby’s challenge, a universal matter we will term The Thrill of The Chase & Wanting To Control Others, Franco is all,
“It reminds me of my high school relationships, where I tortured girlfriends for getting fingered by other boys when they were freshmen. Just move on, dude. We are obsessed by his obsession but aren’t significantly moved by his accomplishment of the goal”.
Articulate as shit with a peppering of finely-executed cheek, it’s worth a read, because as we know, this is the guy who is good at everything.
Also, he reviews his own review for HitFix which solidifies his bursting potential to be a literary comic. Go there.
Title image by Rob Kim via Getty
