The Wolf of Wall Street

The Wolf of Wall Street, the latest offering from award winning director Martin Scorsese is an instant classic. It's a tale of excess and greed at the most obscene levels during the early 90's in the life of Jordan Belfort. It is a roller coaster ride full of ups and downs, twists and turns, and it's a ride that will keep you engaged from the opening frame to the last. For that I give The Wolf of Wall Street three and a half buckets of Killer Korn.












Before settling in to watch Martin Scorsese's latest masterpiece The Wolf of Wall Street, I read the negative reviews of those who had seen the movie before me. They didn't dissuade me from seeing the movie at all, but they did somewhat prepare me for what I was about to see. While walking out of the theater I had no idea what movie those people saw. Granted, at 2 hours and 59 minutes, Wolf is an epic telling of the life of Jordan Belfort, the actual Wolf of Wall Street. I feel a few things could have been cut to bring the watch time down by maybe 30 minutes but that's my only complaint with this movie. Leonardo DiCaprio is absolutely amazing in this film as Jordan Belfort. He is uncontrollable at times, owning every inch of the movie screen as he screams, yells, and romps his way through this film whenever he's in front of the camera. The best compliment I can ever pay an actor is to say no one could have played that role BUT that actor, that is most certainly the case for Leonardo. no one could have played this role but him.

Now when I say this movie is a tale of excess, I am not lying. Jordan and his right hand man Donnie Azoff, played by Oscar award nominee Jonah Hill create a new brokerage firm, Stratton Oakmont and set off to make their mark on the financial world. They could have done it legally and sober but they chose instead to do it pretty much all illegally and completely high out of their minds as often as they could be. Understand though, Jordan started off as a straight arrow, an eager broker looking to conquer the world the right way, but on his very first day on Wall Street he meets his mentor Mark Hannah, played by Matthew McConaughey and Mark sets Jordan on his debauched path. He divorces the first wife who was with him from the very start, Teresa Petrillo played by Cristin Milioti, marries the trophy wife Naomi Lapaglia played by Margot Robbie, buys a huge mansion, a yacht, a Lamborghini Countach, and any other toy he could think to get. It's a cautionary tale that we have all come to realize with the financial crash of 2008, how the bubble will eventually burst and how when something is too good to be true, it usually is. Now is this film unnecessary, perhaps but it's a damn entertaining one.

Jordan may be a likable character but he has no redeeming qualities to speak of. The movie however doesn't ask you to or lead you down the path of judgement. It just shows you what this man's life was like as you wait for his inevitable downfall. The Wolf of Wall Street will remind you of Wall Street, Boiler Room, and perhaps even Margin Call except Wolf has a sense of humor. I can't imagine the outtakes from some of the moments in this film but I am sure there were times when no one on the set could catch their breath from laughing so hard. Now be warned, there is some significant sexual imagery and a massive amount of drug usage but that's the absurdity of it all, this is how one man and his crew really lived. So take it in stride. The standout of the behind the scenes crew in my opinion would have to be the costume designer Sandy Powell. The stuff she dressed this cast in was hilarious at times and it definitely brought back to mind the fashions of the early 90's. The Wolf of Wall Street will be a classic someday despite the backlash over some of the imagery in the film, count on it. Miss it at your own peril and I'll see you at the theater.