**WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW!!**

The Great Gatsby. You know, that one English book that you were supposed to read, but ended up just looking on SparkNotes the night before the essay was due? Well, director Baz Luhrmann took on the daunting task of remaking F. Scott Fitzgerald’s timeless novel into a box office hit. And in my opinion, he did just that.

The movie opens up with the narrator Nick Carraway, played by Toby Maguire, in a mental institution. The film is a memory, with Nick reflecting on how and why he was institutionalized, all having to do with his times with Jay Gatsby. It continues with Daisy and Tom Buchanan, Myrtle and George Wilson, and all the intertwining plots connected to them.

The film stayed true to the plot. And when I say “stayed true,” I mean that at times, Nick was reading Fitzgerald’s actual words, straight from the book itself. My biggest pet peeve when seeing a movie that was first a book is when the director strays away from the true plot of the book. Luhrmann must have this pet peeve too, because this movie could not have been any closer to what Fitzgerald was seeing in his head when he first wrote his book.

Having said this, Luhrmann added his own twist on how to portray certain events in the movie. For instance, the music. I have never wanted a movie’s soundtrack more than I do for “Gatsby.” Jay-Z, executive producer for both the movie and the music, worked with Luhrmann to “translat[e] the Jazz Age sensibility of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel into the musical equivalents of our own times, through the blending of hip-hop, traditional jazz and other contemporary musical textures.” At one moment in the film, I was listening to the smooth sound of jazzy trumpets and the next second, Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love” was mixing in with it. It’s like Beyonce’s music was made for the 1920s.

And now, prepare for my rant on how perfect Leonardo DiCaprio was as Jay Gatsby. DiCaprio himself is smooth, suave, and charming, and all these qualities popped on screen. The love he had for Daisy was magical, his smile was captivating, and his eyes…HOW BLUE CAN SOMEONE’S EYES BE? Truly enchanting, and played the guy that every girl wants but only one can get, perfectly.

Overall, “The Great Gatsby” could be summed up into one word: extravagant. From the costumes, the music, the characters, and the acting, Fitzgerald’s novel popped out of the screen and pulled me into 1920s New York. I felt like I was dancing with the flappers, relaxing in Daisy’s million-dollar mansion, and driving down the road in Gatsby’s yellow car.

So for all you English aficionados who were worried that this movie was going to be too bold, too daring, and disappoint you in the end, fear not. Bold and daring are perfect adjectives to describe this magnificent film, but Luhrmann did not take it too far. So go join the Gatsby craze, and fall in love with this classic novel all over again.

Because there ain’t no party like a Gatsby party.