Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio seem to like working together. To the point where it’s starting to feel like we’re never again going to go more than a couple years without the duo reuniting to bring some sort of epic story to the big screen. And while their regular collaborations have been slightly hit or miss to date, depending on your tastes, they’ve still all been embraced as worthy additions to the Scorsese filmography to some degree, so one has to imagine that the same is going to be true of The Wolf of Wall Street as well, because it just may be the most ambitious and best-realized project that they’ve worked together on so far.
The film is an adaptation of the memoirs of a guy named Jordan Belfort (DiCaprio), who was one of those scummy broker types who made a huge fortune by exploiting the bank accounts and gullibility of regular folk back in the 80s and early 90s. His story is one that’s interesting to watch not only because it’s a fascinating look into the narcissistic and sociopathic mindset that seems to be a requirement of achieving great success in the investment game, but also because Belfort was a character who was notorious for his decadent lifestyle—which makes The Wolf of Wall Street a movie that’s full of all sorts of insane drug binges, salacious partying, and head spinning nudity from high end prostitutes.
Actually it’s all of the decadence that gets to the guts of what The Wolf of Wall Street accomplishes. When we first watch Belfort and his hedonist cronies engage in their outlandish lifestyles, it plays as being entertaining and darkly funny in an escapist way. After a while all the wanton sex and drug use starts to become repetitive and off-putting, however. And then, eventually, you get so tired of watching Belfort indulge himself and shirk any sort of responsibility or humanity that his dealings become downright nauseating. The effect is that of catching a kid smoking and then making him finish a whole pack of cigarettes in one sitting, and you’re the kid. While this approach is largely effective, it can also become problematic, because The Wolf of Wall Street is just one minute shy of being three hours long and after a while all of that lesson-learning starts to feel more like homework than it does an engaging filmgoing experience. But, ultimately, seeing what DiCaprio is able to accomplish in the lead role, seeing what Jonah Hill is able to accomplish in a standout supporting role, and getting to watch an epic scene in which one attempts to save the other’s life while they’re both completely whacked out on quaaludes makes the effort worth your while. It would be in your best interests to set aside some time to do this homework soon.
