Sexualized, hilarious and unsettling Scorsese tale of excess

THE WOLF OF WALL STREET (2013)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

I recall attending a "GoodFellas" screening where a couple stormed out of the movie after a guy's head is blown apart, almost 2/3 of the way into the film. Within the first fifteen minutes, a few people in their mid-60's I gather, stormed out of Martin Scorsese's "The Wolf of Wall Street." Why? Because when Leo DiCaprio is snorting coke from a woman's netheregions, well, it is not quite like watching like someone getting killed but it may be offputting to some all the same. Such is the case with "The Wolf of Wall Street," the snappiest, funniest, sharpest and most outrageous black comedy in years. It will offend just about anybody who feels a movie needs to be Clearplayed in order to be accessible. Rampant nudity (and we also mean the male organ), coke-snorting parties that would put Charlie Sheen to shame, flagrant sex scenes, ingestion of goldfish, and sometimes drugs and sex mixed like a fine cocktail litter the screen. That is just the beginning - I have not discussed the F-word which might easily exceed its usage in Scorsese's "Casino." But this is a tale of a lifestyle that befitted its main protagonist - an excessive man with excess money and excess drugs who takes a nirvana state of Roman Epicureanism to a whole other level.

Who is this protagonist? He is Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio), an ambitious Wall Street broker who finds the world of stock exchange far more glamorous than anything shown in Oliver Stone's "Wall Street" (Gordon Gekko does get a mention). He gets firsthand knowledge from a martini-loving, chest-thumping, coke-sniffing smooth handler (Matthew McConaughey) who makes it clear that stocks mean nothing  - "You move the money from your client's pocket into your pocket." Words that Jordan lives by until the market crashes in 1986 and Jordan has to find a way of playing the stocks. He will not work for the Wiz (a chain of stores that is sadly gone). Jordan finds penny stocks at a firm that none of the richest 1% would ever purchase and turns everything in his favor - he's got a persuasive charm about him and he can coax anybody into doing anything. That is his attractive quality and it soaks up everybody, including Donnie Azoff (Jonah Hill), his devoted sidekick and friend who helps sell the penny stocks to clueless investors and gain a 50% commission. Eventually, Jordan starts his own brokerage firm, Stratton Oakmont, and the lavish parties begin before we even learn that Jordan and associates are skimming millions of dollars to fester on prostitutes, marching bands, "little people" tossed at targets, helicopters on top of luxurious yachts, copious amounts of cocaine and Quaaludes, stacks of money strapped to Swiss women and much more. The critics who have already stomped on this hubris tale have mistakenly associated morality with drug-taking - not so, the lack of morality are the victims who were duped to support Jordan Belfort's lifestyle and are never mentioned once.

"Wolf of Wall Street" is Scorsese's "The Aviator" turned up to 1,111. It is gleefully and comically over-the-top and you will be laughing at all the debauchery and wasteful spending in spite of yourself - this is because the guys really do have fun. Whereas "The Aviator" dealt with Howard Hughes' own dilemma to buy out businesses and think big, this Jordan just wants to party and is not looking for respect. "This is America, the land of opportunity," he says, without missing a beat. Scorsese's and writer Terence Winter's strengths lay in not judging its characters, adding comedy instead to the mix so that we don' t think too hard about how Jordan and company are screwing up to the wealthiest 1% and every other investor they cold call. Everything is a game to them, and everything is sexualized (including the cold calling). If there is no sex, there is time for multiple Quaaludes. If there are no Quaaludes, there is time for cocaine. If nothing else is available, then it is time to quit but, hey, being sober is boring.

Scorsese brings us into the world of stockbrokers who do nothing less than utter profanities, crack jokes and party. It is all a fulgazi, a fake, a tempestuous world of complete avarice with no regard for the Dow Jones stock market index or any brand of ethics. That is why Jordan Belfort loves it - money is all he needs. Jordan does have his flaws - he divorces his first wife and marries another woman ,Naomi (Margot Robbie) because she looks sexy (the yacht is named after her). Is there anything more to Jordan? Apparently not, and after three hours, you will be exasperated and exhausted by his schemes yet you still can't wait to see what he cooks up next. Leonard DiCaprio gives Jordan a likability that proves to be engrossing and captivating - I have never seen DiCaprio be this animated or potent on screen before. Same with Jonah Hill, who is funnier and more depraved than he's ever been before. These two can give you a heart attack each time they appear together on screen - it is likely the Academy voters will admire their work but may choose not to honor such depravity with a nomination.

The rest of the cast is excellent. Rob Reiner is deliriously manic as Jordan's "Mad Max" of a father who is confounded when anyone spends $28,000  on one dinner (Occupy Wall Street protesters will find plenty to protest about from this movie). Margot Robbie ("Pan Am") is stunning in more ways than one as Jordan's second wife - she feels cut out of movie until the last third when we realize she has something up her sleeve. There are also some rich turns by Joanna Lumley as Naomi's English aunt who tells Jordan to slow down, Jean Dujardin as a smooth Swiss banker, Fran Leibowitz as a judge, Kyle Chandler as an FBI agent who wants to nail Jordan, and even Spike Jonze who introduces Jordan to the penny stocks.

"Wolf of Wall Street" is loud, rambunctious, hilarious and pulsatingly alive. It is not for all tastes and the sexualized atmosphere will give some pause (though we still live in a world where graphic violence is tolerated but not graphic sexuality). The film is dense with details and packed with information, like an abrasive, supercharged, jazzy documentary with an antihero who breaks the fourth wall (Ray Liotta's first-person narrator also broke the fourth wall briefly in "GoodFellas") with his foul-mouthed narration and behind-the-scenes spectacle of Wall Street and brokerage firms as money-grubbing institutions. Though Scorsese's "Wolf" resembles the director's own "GoodFellas" and Casino" in its excess and excessive narration, it also has its own identity. Jordan Belfort may have regrets about his hedonistic lifestyle and having bilked his investors in hindsight, but he might wish he could pop one more Quaalude or have sex with one more prostitute. I kind of wished he could, and I hate myself for thinking that. He has that kind of effect on you.

Wolf of Wall Street is not porn!

WOLF OF WALL STREET REVIEW AND CONTROVERSY