GENRE: Biography, Drama, Comedy
RATING: 18A for strong sexual content, nudity and language
RUNTIME: 3 hours and 0 minutes
STARRING: Leonardo DiCaprio(The Aviator, Titanic, The Departed)
Jonah Hill (Moneyball, 21 Jump Street), Margot Robbie (Pan Am)
DIRECTOR: Martin Scorsese (Goodfellas, The Departed, The Aviator)
WRITER: Terence Winter (Boardwalk Empire, The Sopranos)
PLOT: Based on a true story of the rise and fall of Jordan Belfort, a wealthy stockbroker who lived a life of excess (to put it mildly).
FIVE OBSERVATIONS:
1 This film brings debauchery to a whole new level. I’m a pretty desensitized person but I was utterly shocked with the amount of sex and cocaine use in this movie. We got the picture early on but Scorsese just keeps hammering us with those images. This film is not for the weak-hearted.
2 You could tell they had a lot of fun making this movie. DiCaprio commands the screen and perfectly plays the party-boy ringleader.
3 I loved some of the supporting roles in this film as well. Hill is pretty crazy as Donnie Azoff (although the novel version of him is even more outrageous); he is a treat to watch. Matthew McConaughey (Magic Mike, Mud) continues his stellar comeback year(s) with a great performance as mentor, Mark Hanna. And I was surprised to see Rob Reiner bring it as Jordan’s dad. Kudos.
4 Three hours is a bit much. You could easily shave off an hour and still have a film that gets the ultimate price of excess across to the audience.
5 Maybe it’s just me but in some lights DiCaprio and Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights) look very similar. They could easily play relatives (even father/son). I don’t think Scorsese intended for this, so it just comes off as a bit weird.
RECOMMENDATION: Brave it out on DVD (in private)
UPCOMING REVIEWS: Saving Mr. Banks
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