Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street” is a bawdy, obscene, multi-faceted thrill-ride that will engage, amuse, repel, and surprise you throughout its entire 3 hour runtime. It features Leonardo DiCaprio in the performance of his career and many beautiful, bravura performances from its sprawling, talented cast.
DiCaprio plays Jordan Belfort a Wall Street stockbroker who rises from penniless, humble origins to wealth and prestige beyond his and our wildest dreams. He goes from a straight-laced, well-behaved citizen to a corrupt, ego-centric, drug-addled, and sex-hungry villain over the course of his illustrious career on Wall Street all before he crash-lands in a humungous cess-pool of illegal activity and winds up in jail and ratting out his immense collection of “friends” he has garnered along the journey.
This is not an easy picture to watch. Its graphic depictions of drug-use (Cocaine, Qualuudes, Crack, etc.), sex (hookers), and profanity (the “F” word is uttered close to 500 times), will leave you breathless and disoriented.
Besides DiCaprio, there are tremendous performances from the supporting players. Jonah Hill nearly steals the show in a performance that is absolutely hilarious in its slovenly, awkward splendor. He is married to his cousin and one of his scenes involves a shot of him masturbating in public (a prosthetic penis was apparently used). Matthew McConaghey proves that he is having a great year in another show-stopping role. There are also great things contributed from Rob Reiner, Kyle Chandler, and Jon Favreau among others.
The three hours of this film flies by because it is so entertaining but all the debauchery is not for the faint of heart. The moral vacuity of the characters and story is unsettling and although I liked the film, I cannot admit to liking these characters. It is only when the FBI starts getting involved that I found myself wishing that these extreme characters would receive their comeuppance and be put in their proper place. The equilibrium is finally reached by the film’s end but you are left with an uneasy feeling of having witnessed something filthy.
You may feel like taking a shower after seeing this film. Its a dirty one. But its also one of the most entertaining, provocative films you will see this year. A sprawling, epic one from Mr. Scorsese.
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