A flying midget, aimed at a velcro target and surrounded by a throng of middle-aged frat boys in ties, is wildly cheered on as booze, cocaine, and hookers flood the office. A shot of the circus’ ringleader, a smiling Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) amidst the chaos escalating behind, sets a perfect stage for what’s about to unfold in the next three hours in this Martin Scorsese neo-gangster film: sex, drugs, and a whole lot of laughs.
The Wolf of Wall Street is the unbelievable true story of a young money-hungry stockbroker, Jordan Belfort, and of his meteoric rise to the top of the New York financial game. Scorsese packages this comedic crack-epic in the vein of Goodfellas, a genre and tone that he single-handedly defined in the cinematic language, which is also sure to be an Awards contender. Dicaprio’s portrayal of Belfort begins as a wide-eyed freshman; a newbie to the financial world. After meeting with a very charismatic stockbroker Mark Hanna (Matthew McConaughey), Belfort resorts to trading penny stocks to get his taste of the fast-paced world of trading. With his natural salesmanship, go-and-get-it attitude, Belfort turns into an overnight success. It’s not long after he leaves the low reward penny stocks game to run with the big boys on Wall St., teaming up with Donnie Azoff, played by a preppy and cap-toothed Jonah Hill.
From there, the money, and booze start flowing.
Dicaprio and Jonah Hill make an oddly perfect on-screen duo, as their dryly humorous performances throw contrast to the film’s real comedic bread and butter, all of the eccentricities flying around them. When Jordan and Donnie take drugs that they think are duds, leaving them temporarily paralyzed and left to dragging their gimp bodies across the floor, their loss of motor function make for hilarious slow-rolling gibberish. Also praiseworthy is newcomer Margot Robbie who plays DiCaprio’s trophy wife Naomi, the typical blonde hair, big-chested prototype with a defiant edge. As a whole, the cast is spot on and deliver strong, strong, theatrical performances. If you look closely, you can even spot a cameo from fellow acclaimed director Spike Jonze.
Scorsese packages this comedic crack-epic in the vein of Goodfellas, a genre and tone that he single-handedly defined in the cinematic language, which is also sure to be an Awards contender.
Everywhere you look, Martin Scorsese’s film is packed with A-listers in front of and behind the camera, but then again, who would expect anything less? Veteran screenwriter Terence Winter, known for such classics as Boardwalk Empire and The Sopranos, adapts the screenplay from the memoirs of the book of the same name, The Wolf of Wall Street, written by the Jordan Belfort himself. The adaptation feels seamlessly natural, unlike more stiff or apprehensively handled book adaptations seen before. Cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto, who includes Argo and Brokeback Mountain on his resume, captures Scorsese’s classic vision in a new, dynamic fashion, keeping the audience guessing and wanting more.
The Wolf of Wall Street is definitely a guy’s-guy type of movie, raunchy in the most chauvinistic yet hilarious ways. It’s a fast paced, hard-R film, that actually needed to cut out even more of the sexuality and nudity then what’s already included to stave off an NC-17 kiss of death rating. The irony runs further; on par with Jordan & Co.’s fast paced lifestyle, which is laughable to the average moviegoer, the gratuity on display might even serve as an of inspiration to some of Hollywood’s young up and coming players.
It’s a home run for both Scorsese and his cast, and will certainly be popular come Awards season. The Wolf of Wall Street may not be to everyone’s taste. Depending on which side of the aisle you identify with, the “have’s” or the “have not’s,” you’ll definitely walk out of the theater blown away, from both the mastery in filmmaking and having witnessed the all too true real-life happenings of Wall Street’s wildest.
