Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf Of Wall Street (2014) Movie Review

Title: The Wolf Of Wall Street

Year: 2014

Language: English

Genre/ Sub Genre: Biography

Censor: A

Run Time: 174.11 Minutes

Cast: Jean DuJardin, Jon Bernthal, Jonah Hill, Kyle Chandler, Leonardo DiCaprio, Margot Robbie, Matthew McConaughey, Rob Reiner

Editor: Thelma Schoonmaker

Director: Martin Scorsese

After Gangs of Newyork, The Aviator, The Departed and Shutter Island Martin Scorsese and Leonardo Dicaprio collaborate for the fifth time for The Wolf of Wall Street. When two super film maker’s teams up for a movie, it’s the perfect movie magic. 

Based on the true story of Jordan Belfort from his rise to a wealthy stockbroker living the high life to his fall involving crime, corruption and the federal government.

 Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a stockbroker who bends all the rules of Wall Street to get wealthy. Donnie Azoff (Jonah Hill) quits his job to work with Belfort. The men start a firm Stratton Oakmont to become billionaires. Belfort cheats and divorces his wife Teresa (Cristin Milioti). He marries Naomi Lapaglia (Margot Robbie). Belfort and Azoff have sex with prostitutes and take drugs constantly. 

Leonardo gives one of the best performances of his career by making you laugh at someone you despise. Hill provides striking performance. Margot Robbie almost steals the show with bold personality. McConaughey’s soliloquy on masturbation-drugs with impromptu song chanting is deeply entertaining and Oscar winner Jean Dujardin delivers a perfect cameo as a smiling Swiss banker.

The script by Terenve Winter has good mixture of entertainment and it’s very immersive. The Leonardo plays the character of Belfort, but also looks into camera and speaks to the audience. Its more like Jordan Belfort story sold by Belfort himself. Scorsese pulls this off smoothly. The editing and pacing are near to perfection. Thanks to Editor Schoonmaker, we don’t feel like three hours for most of the time. It’s the fastest three hours you could have experienced in theatres. 

The Wolf of Wall Street has exceeded my already high expectations. It was hilarious but also a little heartbreaking at the same time to see some throw away so much because of drugs and excess. Beneath the decadence there are heavy messages which aren’t directly stated to you. Like; Money doesn’t not get you everything – You should only love have sex with you wife if you are truly in love with her – Drugs make situations worst – Don’t lie to your partners because they will find it eventually – finally don’t do illegal businesses on Wall Street.

This film did not need to be this long and kept trying to push things to the limit for the sake of it. A lot of the film had the feeling that I had seen this all before, just in some different context. But Leo and Jonah Hill’s performances are tremendous and the film has some fabulous memorable scenes that make it worth at least one viewing, maybe more if you really like watching people get fucked up.