Let's talk The Wolf of Wall Street, guys, as this one caused quite the stir upon its release. First: Martin Scorsese is an absolute legend of the silver screen. The guy is 71 years old, has been releasing meaningful, crucial films for more than 4 decades now. Taxi Driver is 40 years old! Most filmmakers who were releasing classics in the 70's are either dead or have long ceased to be relevant in a creative sense. As Spielberg has long passed into bloated sentimentality and Coppola has faded into irrelevance, Scorsese is releasing kinetic, controversial, mad cap romps that display the confrontational irreverence of a man 40 years his junior. In Wolf, he's re-teamed with his new De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio, for the 5th time now.
Wolf of Wall Street, titled after a memoir of the same name, follows a young stockbroker named Jordan Belfort as he seeks to break into the big time by any means necessary. Through hubris, greed, innovative practices, and an uncompromising desire to do whatever it takes for success, Belfort builds an empire from nothing, exploiting, stealing, breaking the law and abusing whoever gets in his path all the way.
The Good: the enthusiasm of all involved in this production is infectious. The film is kinetic, engaging, and almost manic in its unyielding nihilism in the service of the true American religion: the almighty dollar. Everyone is having so much fun that at times its tough to remember that what they are doing is despicable, giving financial scammers the same treatment afforded to mobsters in Scorsese's classic Goodfellas. DiCaprio's performance is infectious, as he imbibes the persona of the sleazy Belfort. Jonah Hill is electric as his friend and business partner, Donnie Azoff, and I quite enjoyed Jon Bernthal's depiction of sleazy drug dealer/sometimes associate Brad. Matthew McConaughey is in this film for roughly 15 minutes, and steals every damn one of them. The film is often funny, just as often revolting, and electric from front to back. It's a three hour film that has more uses of the F-word and its derivatives than any film in history, and I couldn't take my eyes off the screen.
The Bad: if anything, everyone is having so damn much fun that it's easy to lose sight of the deeper message, and that's what led to the bulk of the criticism of the film on its release. In this way, it's also not unlike Goodfellas. The sex and drug use and good times are relentless and occasionally gratuitous, and I can see how that would be distracting and/or disturbing for more squeamish tastes.
Ultimately, this film is a joy to watch, but ultimately more important for what it represents: a time-capsule type view of a corrupt institution and the kind of people who inhabit this world, who also happen to be the wealthiest and most powerful people on the planet. To me, my biggest takeaway was that Belfort and Co., despite their scumbaggery, aren't even that big time. They were dealing in hundreds of millions in a circle where billionaires are oddly common. (Yet another similarity with Goodfellas) In the end, this film becomes the white collar Goodfellas, and one that will stick around for decades, so that we can (hopefully!) look back on the outlandish decadence of the height of Wall Street's power with disbelief after we, as a society, have brought the financial industry to some measure of reasonable control. If Wolf of Wall Street seems unbelievable, it's because the wealth and power of Wall Street truly is unbelievable.
A fun flick that ultimately has a lot to say about the power structures and incentives of our society, and ultimately paints an unflattering view of the role of greed and material wealth in America today. I kind of loved it, but I'll acknowledge that it's not for everyone.
8.5/10.
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