The Wolf of Wall Street - Wolf on this one!!!!!

Three hours long and about a crazed up stock broker. Now don't get ticked off reading that description because that will lead you to miss this aggressively profane and absolutely filthy black comedy. With Martin Scorsese at the helm of affairs one can expect his trademark stamps viz. profanity, pitch black characters to name a few. This film also marks his fifth collaboration with Leonardo DiCaprio. So the expectations are definitely as high as the calibre of the director and the actor. The film turns out to be the most irreverent and entertaining of the year.

The film is a dramatisation of Jordan Belfort who made a killing at the stock market defrauding people by selling them penny stocks in the guise of blue chip investments and was later jailed for the same and has since become a motivational speaker

For starters, the plot of this movie is nothing extraordinary. It is a very simple story. Thus, it comes down to the screenplay to do justice to the story. As a Scorsese movie, it may not be among his best works. Scorsese returns to direct a comedy after 31 years (The king of comedy) and does a decent job of it. His stamp is apparent through the film. But he also chose to incorporate the style of "breaking the fourth wall" this time(a style most often employed by Woody Allen, his contemporary) to very good effect. The film manages to do ample justice to its 180 minute length. Scorsese also manages to make some very outlandish and seemingly unrealistic situations seem so believable that the Time magazine has also acknowledged their possibility. Taking ample licence but also maintaining a tight narrative has worked well for this film. In short, not among Scorsese's best but that is not reason to complain.

Among the technical aspects, the most notable one is the brisk editing by Thelma Schoonmaker with the rest being just about adequate.

The main draw of this film(apart from its record breaking usage of the "F" word - 506 f*****g times) is the crazed no holds barred performance by Leonardo DiCaprio. He plays his part to the hilt. You see the soul of a very screwed up character in every second of his performance. Note the plethora of scenes where he plays an addict. He had to be his most profane and in a mad mad way. As a money crazed jerk off, he is an absolute asshole. As an irresponsible family man, he is an absolute c**t. As a motivator, he is an advertisement for his own foibles. Such is the impact of his performance that it gives as much of a high as the weed or quaalude must have given the character that he plays. It may not be exaggeration to say that the real life Belfort must have shouted some choice cusses at himself watching this whiplash performance. No amount of length seems to be relevant before the gargantuan impact of DiCaprio's best yet performance. It would be absolute f*****g outrageous to give the Oscar to anyone else now because he has given a very healthy high to the viewer by his powerhouse. A proud milestone in his career indeed.

In the supporting cast, Jonah Hill gets the meatiest role and carries it out with the same crazed enthusiasm as DiCaprio and Rob Reiner does a great extended cameo. Matthew McConaughey does a mini version of what DiCaprio does throughout in a cameo at the beginning of the film (in a very likable southern accent). Other members of the cast form a perfect ensemble.


To sum it all up, The Wolf of Wall Street is pure on screen heroin. It forcibly infuses into your system, the crazed enthusiasm of Leonardo DiCaprio's f****d up character and the unabashed filthy treatment in general. Do not watch this film with your family as you will end up hating yourself for two reasons - being labelled an asshole by your family and spoiling all the fun that this film offers by worrying about the cross stares from your family. Your relationship might also crumble if your other half minds crass stuff. If you are with buddies and can shout out cuss words, you will have a whale of a time. Pitch black comedy extreme.

Rating - 4 on 5