It was a pretty good movie

Sure, the book was better. In fact, the book is in my top 10. Beautiful language, interesting and true to life characters, wonderful observations of the culture of the 20s. Fitzgerald writes also with the right amount of feeling and romance--not too much or too little. Plus it's a relatively brisk read.

However, I will say that the movie is true to the book, if not quite as compact. It takes the movie over two hours to tell a story that happened in the book in little over 100 pages. The performances are uneven, but there are some good moments. Most notable for me were Nelson Riddle's Oscar-winning score, the stunning costumes, era-perfect scenery and set design. This film truly captured, if nothing else, the look and sound of the era. I don't think it could be done better today, in that respect.