Wolf of Wall Street Review: Rich And Shameless

 In what has now become an annual tradition of going to the movies during the week between Christmas and the dawn of a new year--I, and several 20 something members of my family got together to see Martin Scorsese's "The Wolf of Wall Street".

The film is based on the Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) penned memoir that tells of his days as a hard partying, drug addicted stockbroker who was indicted in 1998 for security fraud and money laundering and served a 22-month federal prison stretch.

"Wolf" marks the fifth big screen collaboration between Scorsese and DiCaprio and the narrative of the movie is structured like 1990's Goodfellas and 1995's Casino where we are dropped right in the middle of the action with the main character soon taking us back to explain how we got here. At various points along the way DiCaprio breaks the fourth wall--looking directly into the camera to explain to the non-biz folks in the audience how something works or some such thing.

DiCaprio gives a dynamic performance as Belfort--owning the role--Fully committing to even the most outrageous material--without apology. I was surprised at just how much humor that Boardwalk Empire creator Terence Winter put into his adapted script. Having never read the book I don't know how much of that came from Belfort's account or was embellished by the filmmakers.

Just as he did in his Academy award nominated turn in Moneyball- Jonah Hill gives an unforgettable performance as Jordan's best friend and business partner Donnie, a furniture salesman who quits his job to join Befort on his wild ride to the top. Former "Pan Am" star Margot Robbie is sensational as Belfort's second wife Nadine. With all of the testosterone infused mayhem going on around her-she holds her own opposite Leo when we are allowed to peek inside the Belfort home and their domestic life.

The supporting cast is top notch here--everyone from Kyle Chandler as the FBI agent who built the case against Belfort and took him down, Jean Dujardin, last year's Best Actor Oscar winner for "The Artist," playing money-laundering Swiss banker Jean-Jacques Handali, to Matthew McConaughey who cameos as an early boss and mentor to Belfort.

Despite all of the things that "Wolf" has going for it, the film is not Marty and Leo's best work-- The Departed is secure in that spot--I felt that the film would have been better served if editor Thelma Schoonmaker found a way to shave off some some 20 more minutes. As it is, the original cut was 4 hours long...Yeah I wanna see what else was cut as a one time filmmaker...that's what the Blu-ray/DVD is for.

Some say the film glorifies bad behavior while others say it indites the 1%ers. I say hogwash to both notions. Those folks are painting with too broad of a brush. I know some stockbrokers all of whom work very hard legally to support their families.  Glorifying bad practices? The last time I checked Befort and his cohorts were caught....I saw no glory at the end of the movie for Belfort.

"Wolf" is Oliver Stone's Wall Street with Roid Rage-not a perfect film--but still wildly entertaining filled with great performances.