The Wolf of Wall Street Review

Directed by Martin Scorsese (Goodfellas and The Departed) The Wolf of Wall Street follows the meteoric rise of Jordan Belfort played by Leonardo DiCaprio as a stockbroker in New York. The plot follows his rise from a penniless man to multimillionaire as the audience follow his story and the story of his company Stratton Oakmont. The film also stars Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie and Matthew McConaughey.

Based on Jordan Belfort's memoir which has the same title, the film follows Belfort as he forms his own stock brokerage and quickly descends into a corrupt and decadent lifestyle. The black comedy persists throughout this film and is quite effective. DiCaprio gives an excellent performance as Belfort clearly enjoying the over-the-top and lavishness that his life becomes. Drugs, prostitution and sex all run throughout the film often intentionally descending into dark territory as equally as it does ridiculousness. There are neat touches throughout the film from Belfort occasionally breaking the fourth wall speaking directly to the camera to bigger set pieces and the impressive number of extras on screen. One of the highlights is Belfort's sales pitches which are as outrageous as his life becomes and that his employees adore.

As previously mentioned the film can be darkly humorous with Jonah Hill bringing a lot of the laughs but DiCaprio also has his fair share of hilarity in the film. There is a question over whether the film goes too far, depicting debauchery just for the sake of it. At a running time close to three hours this becomes more and more apparent as the film goes on. Belfort is unquestionably self-destructive and ranges from arrogant to stupid as he taunts the FBI to try and stop him. It's a film that never takes itself too seriously and yet hits some important points about lifestyle, the modern world, and, of course, money. Money is Belfort's ambition, passion and enthusiasm. Without it his world and the world of those around him crumbles.

Overall, the film is a good one containing equal parts ridiculousness, dark humour and debauchery. At three hours long I felt a little exhausted around the two hour mark after so much screen time devoted to such a lavish and self-destructive personality as Belfort's. Nevertheless, the film is good and certainly may be one of DiCaprio's best performances.