Money is the oxygen of capitalism and I wanna breathe more than any other human being alive.
- Jordan Belfort
Hey kids!
If you've read my past reviews you know I tend to get somewhat weepy at the movies. I can't help it, I'm a softy at heart. However, the teary eyed reaction is not the only one that ensures that a movie did it's job in my eyes. To me, if a movie isn't trying to illicit an emotional reaction from me, if the film's sole purpose is to highlight the most despicable of individuals and show their day to day life, that story better be out of this world intriguing and interesting. So, when in the first 5 minutes of this film the audience sees Leonardo Dicaprio snorting cocaine into a hooker's ass, needless to say I was locked in for the long haul. And a long haul it is because this flick, a masterwork by the equally masterful Martin Scorsese, is a three hour long exercise in grotesque excess and debauchery, a world where money is the reason for living and all rules apply only to idiotic normal people with misguided moral barometers. "THE WOLF OF WALL STREET" is a no holds barred sprint that is unrelenting. By the time I walked out of the theater I felt as though I'd just jumped off a three hour long roller coaster. I couldn't quite believe what I had just seen but I knew that it was one hell of a movie.
Martin Scorsese is no stranger to the world of devious individuals. "Goodfellas" is a classic in every sense of the word, as well as "Taxi Driver", "Gangs of New York" and the Oscar winning "The Departed". If anyone knows how to show criminal behavior, it's him. In this movie he tackles an interesting wrinkle of the criminal society, the crooks and swindlers of Wall Street who utilize the gullibility of their "Get Rich Quick" clients to turn a buck on their misfortune. In the past few years this has been a hot button topic, after the Recession of 2008 people aren't quite as willing to trust those fine folks in New York with their money. And after seeing this movie, I don't blame them.
The story follows the true story of a man named Jordan Belfort who at the age of 22 set his sights on Wall Street and by the time he was 26 made 49 millions dollars in one year. Not to shabby. The part is played with delicious malevolence by Leonardo Dicaprio, who disappears into the role and is the conduit for the audience to see this world of unimaginable debauchery through the eyes of the one who lived through it. The film is not about the ins and outs of Wall Street, nor is it really a crime drama, it's essentially about how through a few years in the 90's this company made it their mission to live to such unbelievable levels of excess that there was no mountain to great. The film begins with Jordan and his associates throwing a midget against a target and a shot of Jordan in his Ferrari getting a blow job from his Miller Lite Girl wife Naomi. This is within the first 5 minutes of the film! There was a woman sitting behind me in the theater who brought a 6 year old kid to watch the movie. A 6 year old! I don't know if I envy that kid or not because he got himself a good old fashioned tutorial on everything from the proper methodology for snorting coke to the dangers of fucking a dime priced hooker.
Many people, in the media as well as in the film industry, have cited this movie for it's glorification of criminality. In their eyes, Scorsese is showing how awesome it is to be rich and to not give a fuck about the people you hurt in the process. Now, these people are completely idiotic and here's why. Scorsese didn't make this story up; it's a real, factually based account written into a book by Jordan Belfort himself. It's not like Scorsese, or any writer for that matter, just sat around one day and envisioned this world where a Stock Brokerage Owner hires 50 hookers for a bachelor party on a private jet. You know why no one comes up with that kind've story? Because no one would ever buy that idea. It's so insanely off the walls ludicrous that audiences would call BULLSHIT the second they walked out've the theater! Instead what Scorsese is showing is, "Look at what these idiots got away with. Isn't it fucked up?" Because it is folks, no denying. I sat through all three hours of that movie and while on the surface I was intrigued as to the hows of what went on, I knew that this was a molotov cocktail that would eventually erupt in the face of Jordan and his cohorts, which it did and should. Karma is a bitch that strikes everybody, but not necessarily in the way one imagines.
Another major gripe that people seem to have is that Jordan is never shown to be punished for his actions. !!SPOILERS!! By the end of the movie, he's made a plea deal, sending his friends to jail, spends 3 years behind bars himself, and then spent the next decade or so as a very successful motivational speaker, showing the ins and outs of selling crap for millions. Again, it's not like Scorsese made up a character that experienced no consequences, it's what really happened! The fact that this guy was able to get away with as much as he did and barely suffer any consequences is the true story; the injustice of that in reality is much more horrifying than the fact that he got off in the end. God I hate critics.
Besides that the film is filled to the brim with brilliant performances, all held together by Dicaprio who is in almost every single frame of the film. Giving an equally transcendent appearance is the one and only Mr. Jonah Hill! Jonah goes for broke as the crack smoking, cousin fucking, quaaludes popping second in command to Dicaprio's Belfort. With fake teeth and sunglasses, he gives a performance that stands toe to toe with anyone else in the film, proving once and for all that Jonah Hill is easily one of the best actors working today. Who woulda thunk it right?
Needless to say, this is most certainly not a flick to see with your parents; okay, maybe your Dad but not your Mom. I couldn't watch "The Hangover" with my Mother and that was just for the jokes. Unless you can imagine sitting beside the woman who raised you watching Leo Dicaprio doing blow off his wife's boobs, steer clear. But for you, the viewer, "THE WOLF OF WALL STREET" is a trip through an adult's fantasy world that really existed. It dives headlong into the most carnal desires that we all have. What would we do if we had enough money to throw away? In a film filled with cocaine and prescription drug abuse on the reg, the most irresistible drug of all is money and wealth and power and control. It's the very thing that drives Jordan, that constant need to consume and purchase. It's the American Dream slapping us in the face, the ultimate vision of capitalism brought to life, complete with hookers, midgets, and lots of blow.
My recommendation: SEE IT! (Parental Discretion Advised - Meaning Do Not Bring Your Mother!)
Until next time, thanks for reading!
Jeremy
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