The Wolf Of Wall Street

There are two films with the title The Wolf Of Wall Street. One is a black and white, mainly silent drama from the 1920’s. The other is Martin Scorsese’s new film. You’re unlikely to get the two mixed up. Telling the story of Jordan Belfort’s (Leonardo DiCaprio) life as a stockbroker, Scorsese doesn’t hold back with his portrayal of Belfort’s rise and fall amid a cacophony of drugs, sex and swearing (this sets a record for the F-word) that has had the censors having a field day the world over. As a depiction of the excesses that can be bought on by wealth it works. However, as a film it doesn’t really work. The plus points first. Terence Winter’s screenplay has a number of witty scenes of memorable dialogue and there’s some great acting from the cast that make up Belfont’s cronies (Jonah Hill as the quasi second lead is miles better than DiCaprio – the comedy teeth are pointless, mind). The whole package is just too repetitive though and at three hours long you need something more than just scene after scene of debauchery. The film would have been vastly improved if the depravity had been trimmed and more time was spent on explaining what scams Belfort and chums were getting away with (in the film whenever an explanation begins DiCaprio just breaks it off with a shrug of the shoulders and a swear word before he disappears into more vice) and a proper focus on the detective side of things as the FBI track down their man. Scene after scene of DiCaprio addressing his animalistic trading floor troops gets tired very quickly and, with the exception of Belfort’s first wife’s eighties hair do, whether it’s meant to be 1987 or the late 1990’s, production wise it all just pretty much looks the same. Accusations of misogyny against Scorsese don’t really hold much water (this is a portrayal of a certain lifestyle after all), but he can’t deny the film glamorises Belfort’s actions and the denouement suggests little has been learnt by the main protagonist. This lacks the cutting satirical edge of something like American Psycho and if you want a film that explores hedonism to the extreme just watch Jon S Baird's Filth instead, which does a better job engaging the audience, developing characters and asking moral questions in half the running time. Rating: 5/10.