With elements ranging from Goodfellas to Glengarry on crack (and cocaine and quaaludes), Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street is a film about a select group of shallow fratboy idiots on a quest for more. By now you've heard the water-cooler controversies (it justifies the characters' behavior, it doesn't show the effect their actions had on their helpless victims) and are probably wondering when we can just start talking about whether or not the movie is worthwhile. In my opinion, it holds much value, but there are some reservations to keep in mind.
Leonardo DiCaprio plays Jordan Belfort as a frat house psycho salesman crossed with a maniac game show host (just give this boy a microphone and see him morph into a preacher of the deranged). His character mirrors the film: it is all a piece of a complete energy — as Scorsese gives us a consistently moving camera, quick edits, eye-catching slow-mo camera flip-outs, pop music, flashbacks and excess, DiCaprio gets to narrate the film and occasionally break the fourth wall, speaking directly to the camera. Does this add some necessary chutzpah? It loses its impact after a while and sometimes the narration is very briefly provided by other characters, which tends to serve little effect, breaking its primarily singular tone in the long run.
Many moviegoers (or perhaps a very vocal minority) seem to have a problem with the film's characterization of Jordan Belfort. He is not a very deep individual. He doesn't change much throughout the film (if you're expecting a big come comeuppance at the end, look elsewhere), never seems to realize he's a despicable person (give or take a crucial scene where his first wife discovers he's been seeing another woman) and seems like the kind of guy whose family gets a TV show on Bravo due to how rich they are; the opening sequence involving Belfort giving us the lowdown on his home, his car and his insanely attractive wife is shot like an introduction to a highly addictive reality show. I thought I heard Robin Leach make a voice cameo later in the film (during the introduction of the Naomi boat, which Scorsese films like a commercial), and after doing a little research, my suspicions were confirmed. This really is Lifestyles of the Crude and Famous.
Moviegoers may hate Belfort because he's not like Jake La Motta or Henry Hill — they may have been dumb, but they knew it and strived to do better, even if their vices ultimately provided their downfall — but rather a 2000s villain to be gleefully detested. He's Tucker Max (of I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell fame) and Hunter Moore (founder of the Is Anyone Up? website), two men who profited in different ways by what we now know as "revenge porn." Yes, Belfort is THAT kind of evil. While we get to know Belfort's father (Rob Reiner's performance tears the house down), it's a deceptively poignant narrative choice to show us much less of his mother.
In one flashback involving an office orgy, we are quickly told by Jordan that one guy in the office wound up marrying "the office slut" and offed himself soon after. It's somewhat of a throwaway line, but Scorsese gives us a glimpse of the crime scene — the man slit his wrists and bled to death in the bathtub — that counters Jordan's nonchalant attitude. Later, Jordan doesn't seem to care that he could have killed innocent passengers on the road during a drugged-out wreckless driving incident. A flashback shows just how unreliable his narration is.
That may be the key to this whole shebang. The film is based on a book by Belfort which chronicled his Wall Street experiences. It goes without saying that anyone who takes this guy at his word is about three apples short of a lemon tree. Belfort often begins to explain to us the inner-workings of his illegal activities before saying something along the lines of "meh, you're not really interested anyway." It's frustrating, for sure, but its purpose stems from Belfort's compulsive need as deceptive storyteller to pull the wool over the eyes of even those he holds closet (us, the viewers). There's a sight gag late in the film where a plane blows up on its way to rescuing Belfort and his friends after a disastrous boat wreck. If you question the likelihood of this incident, you're supposed to. Also, if you are female, homosexual or black, there will be moments where you may feel very disrespected, and you have a right to be. While the film is more condemnation than glorification, you have to look closely at times to see it. If you don't think Scorsese identifies with the victims, then why would he cast himself as one of them (it's a pretty hard to find, or rather hear, cameo, but his voice is present during one important phone call)? The characters have an extremely isolated view of the world, but I'm not sure the film does.
Whether or not The Wolf of Wall Street glorifies Belfort and Donnie Azoff, his right hand man (played neither brilliantly nor horribly by Jonah Hill) is left for the viewer to decide. Certainly this lifestyle feels rather empty and the film, as a mirror of the lifestyle, occasionally runs the risk of feeling a little empty too. It's not so much a rags-to-riches story (while the film opens with Belfort rising up the ranks before Black Monday hits, his rise back up the ladder is perhaps showcased a little too quickly), as it is a riches-to-riches story which, while unfortunately a true scenario in the lives of many Wall Street crooks these days, can be a little unsatisfying dramatically.
Much will be said about the ultimate quaalude trip-out sequence which starts at a country club and recklessly finds its way back to the Belfort household. It's accomplished, hysterical stuff. Personally speaking, I could have done without some of the connections Scorsese visually employs — as he notices a nearby television set playing Popeye, taking his spinach and becoming invincible as a result, Jordan finds some coke from a nearby drawer, takes it, grows empowered and saves his friend from choking to death; even in his drugged up state, the only way Belfort can out-do the heroic Popeye is by doing more drugs.
The scenes that work best are often the more subtle inclusions, the standout being a verbal conning between Belfort and a FBI agent on a yacht. Scorsese allows for a basic two-shot to tell the story here, and the actors thrive in this low-key game of one-upmanship (a later two-shot sequence set on a park bench between Belfort and his wife's aunt works as well, until, that is, the off-screen narration runs a little too broad). Some of the verbal sparrings between Belfort and his duchess wife also provide a lot of entertainment and the film takes an appreciated breather as a result; the film is three hours long, but it rarely stops moving forward.
The Wolf of Wall Street won't be for everyone. Some have described it as a collection of "Scorsese's greatest hits," and while that's true, the pieces don't work as cohesively as they do elsewhere. The sex, the drugs, the hard-to-love but fascinating lead characters, their rise, their fall, the giving in to the FBI and ratting out your dearest friends...Scorsese has been here many times before. The film, with a screenplay by Terence Winter, feels patched together at times, even as Scorsese tries constantly to keep it moving.
One reason why all these vitriolic responses are emerging may be because once the film is done and the high wears off, some viewers may feel they've just been conned. Jordan is currently living on Manhattan Beach, newly engaged and enjoying all the renewed media interest in him. What would've happened had he taken that stockboy position at The Wiz?
Watching the film, I was reminded of Pauline Kael's review of Goodfellas. "Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas has a lift," she began, "It's like Raging Bull, except that it's not domineering. It's like Raging Bull made in a jolly, festive frame of mind. It's about being a guy and guys getting high on being a guy." Make no mistake, The Wolf of Wall Street is domineering (and that brings down the lift) while also being "about a guy and guys getting high on being guys." Occasionally, that cancels out the fun. Still, it's a film certainly worth your time, and I hear you won't even have to shave your head to get in.
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