Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street is a three-hour carnival of greed, excess, and terrible behavior. It is also one of the most purely entertaining films of the decade. The movie never blinks, never judges, and never slows down. It simply invites you to watch the money pile up and the bodies fall.
Based on the memoir of Jordan Belfort, the film tracks his rise from a small-time stockbroker to the head of a billion-dollar fraud operation. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Belfort with manic, full-body commitment. He is a force of nature, a man who sells penny stocks with the zeal of a revivalist preacher. The film follows his partnership with the volatile and hilarious Donnie Azoff, played by Jonah Hill, and his eventual collision with an FBI agent who is the only person in the movie with a sense of duty.
Trailer, via Paramount Pictures.
Opening Bell
The film’s first act is its most instructive. Belfort gets a job at a Wall Street firm, only to lose it in the 1987 crash. He lands at a boiler room on Long Island, where he learns the essential lesson of his career: sell garbage to rich people. The scene where he first pitches a worthless stock over the phone is a masterclass in cinematic energy. Scorsese and his editor, Thelma Schoonmaker, cut the sequence with a jazz-like rhythm, building a high that feels almost narcotic.
Money and Mess
Once Belfort founds his own firm, Stratton Oakmont, the film becomes a montage of parties, drugs, and yacht-based misadventures. The money is not abstract. The film shows cash stacked in walls, thrown into crowds, and snorted off the bodies of strangers. DiCaprio’s physical comedy is astonishing. The famous sequence where he crawls to his car after taking outdated Quaaludes shows his willingness to look utterly ridiculous.
Women in the Story
The film has been criticized for its treatment of women, and that criticism is fair. The female characters are largely relegated to the roles of wives, secretaries, and paid escorts. Margot Robbie plays Naomi, Belfort’s second wife, with a sharp intelligence that cuts through the noise. She is the only one who seems to understand the transactional nature of the world she has entered. The film does not give her much to do beyond that, but Robbie makes the most of her screen time.
Law Closes In
The third act introduces the FBI agent, Patrick Denham, played by Kyle Chandler. Denham is a plain man in a cheap suit, and his investigation is the film’s engine of tension. The movie does not pretend that Denham is a hero. He is simply a man who is not for sale. His scenes are a necessary counterweight to the chaos, providing a quiet, procedural rhythm that makes the excess feel even more obscene.
Satire Problem
The central question of The Wolf of Wall Street is whether it glorifies its subject or condemns him. Scorsese’s approach is to show everything without commentary. The film trusts the audience to feel the nausea. This works, but only up to a point. The final hour drags, and the film’s repeated celebration of excess begins to feel like a party that has gone on too long. The satire is present, but it is often drowned out by the sheer volume of the noise.
Supporting Cast
DiCaprio is the engine, but the supporting cast is superb. Jonah Hill earned an Oscar nomination for his role as Donnie, and he deserves it. He is funny, unpredictable, and genuinely unsettling. Matthew McConaughey appears early on and steals his scenes with a chest-thumping, mantra-chanting turn that sets the tone for the entire film. Rob Reiner, as Belfort’s father, provides a grounding presence, a man who is alternately proud and horrified by his son.
Final Score
The Wolf of Wall Street is a film of excess, and that is both its strength and its weakness. It is too long, and it is often too much. But it is also a technical marvel, a piece of filmmaking that pulses with life. Scorsese has made better films, but he has rarely made one this alive. It is a dark, funny, and exhausting ride.
KEY FACTS BOX
- Film: The Wolf of Wall Street
- Director: Martin Scorsese
- Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie
- Runtime: 180 minutes
- Release year: 2013
- Published critical score: 8 of 10
- This review’s score: 8 of 10
It is a film that asks you to laugh at terrible people doing terrible things. Whether that is a flaw or a feature is up to you. For my part, I laughed, I cringed, and I felt the need for a shower afterwards. That is the intended effect. 8 of 10.
