Review: The Wolf of Wall Street

Release date: December 25, 2013

Running time: 180 minutes

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, Matthew McConaughey, Kyle Chandler
Who to see it with: A Scorsese fan, or someone who likes over the top situations

David:

The Wolf of Wall Street is Scorsese’s debaucherous announcement that he is still at the top of the filmmaking game. It tells the story of millionaire Wall Street investor Jordan Belfort (DiCaprio) who created a stock brokerage firm, Stratton Oakmont, that quickly rose to be a multi-million dollar Wall Street player. The firm started earning Belfort millions overnight and he spent that money quickly and lavishly on insane outings and office events. As crazy as this sounds, the movie is actually based on Belfort's book and appears to be a somewhat accurate retelling of his story (assuming you believe his own account). 

For this film, Scorsese reunites with his movie staple Leonardo DiCaprio who masterfully portrays a complicated character. Belfort was an amazing salesman, inspiring corporate leader, and ruthless stock broker. DiCaprio’s portrayal is stunning, with a wonderful take on this complicated, and consistently intoxicated, person. His performance is inspired, ridiculous, and amazing. Joining him is Jonah Hill, who I usually find annoying, but is perfect as Belfort's right-hand man Seth. Like DiCaprio, he is required to be consistently intoxicated and over-the-top and answers the call every time.

The movie is not without it’s flaws. It’s a LONG film--the runtime is about 3 hours--but I honestly didn’t notice the length as I was watching it. Additionally, the story is pretty absurd, but on a quick read it appears to be a fairly accurate portrayal of what happened (depending on who you ask of course, Seth apparently disputes some of the events). Finally, for a movie featuring this much debauchery, there is a good amount of nudity, sex, and drug use. If that’s not your thing, this isn’t the movie for you. But for those of you that would like to see Scorsese at his best, buy some stock in The Wolf of Wall Street. The movie is one of the year’s best, has style, drama, and debauchery, and is something that should not be short sold.

Watch it.