A Flippant Stepchild to Wolf of Wall Street

Rating: 6/10 (29 December 2013)

There are those who say AH is a cinematic masterpiece ; others contend its preposterous crap
I fall into the latter category. These are not people but garish caricatures. I thought I would never hear myself say Where's Leonardo DiCaprio when you need him which is what I said at the opening scene of the con being set.
Sting sang Why Should I cry for you? He could have said Why should I care?
And for these , I cared nothing. AH is treated as if this idea of scamming scammers is something unique. It isn't. These individuals care only for themselves, saving their own butts at the expense of their object of desire:Carmine Polito.
Much has been made of hair/makeup/clothes- Oscar here we come. For a more accurate portrayal of 70's attire, take a look at Ron Howard's excellent Rush. In Rush, the clothes complimented the story. Here in AH- they are the story.
Bale, who I generally like, is clearly acting here save for a scene where he expresses regret, trying to make it right for Carmine. Adams- anyone could have portrayed her role, Lawrence is way over the top and too young to convincingly play a matronly sort of woman. Her sashaying in the bar scene was laughable at best, cringe-worthy at worse. But she is clearly a camera favorite and Russell's muse, so much so she distorts the picture.
Cooper, another Russell favorite, is the worst offender of all. And what of the rookie in this mess:Jeremy Renner?
Renner has said everyday they swung for the fences and this approach of Russell's might be his preferred way of directing. But the film clearly comes across that way too. Renner has said it was a challenge for him to portray a character who wears his heart on his sleeve. And Mr. Renner, please do this more often, if you are given the chance for how wonderful you are!
In the hands of a Branagh, his performance might have been elevated to near Shakespearean tragic heights, recalling to mind, the line from Merchant of Venice- "To do a great right,do a little wrong".
Like Tom Hardy, Renner conveyed much with simple gestures. So much so I wanted to scream 'get out of the car', you are being taken for a ride!"
Of course if he does, the cynic in me says, there is no film! I don't think Russell really knew how to handle Renner's quietly affecting performance. And he is heartbreakingly terrific!
I am surprised no charges of misogyny/objectification of women has been levied against Russell as it has been against Scorsese in Wolf of Wall Street. I wonder why that is? The women in AH are busy flaunting their assets as if to make up for their lack of acting talent.
AH might be considered the flippant stepchild of Wolf. Wolf is concerned with one thing and one thing only:EXCESS. And because Leo and Marty have corroborated many times in the past, their bond/ trust is palpable here. Leo is/was comfortable in doing certain scenes here for Martin that he otherwise would not have done. To put it simply, white collar crime as depicted in Wolf is rendered OK in the sense this is how one man chose to lead his life and his cohorts who merrily went along with it. But Scorsese does show the downside; perhaps not as much as he should have.
With the single scene of one individual going to jail, , Russell altered two character's outcome. At least Belfort served time in federal prison as did his primary cohort.