Goodfellas Meets Wall Street: Explicit Sex, Mind-Numbing Drugs, Gobs of Money, and Endless Expletives

Rating: 8/10 (16 May 2015)

When I saw "Good Fellas" during its initial release in 1990, I thought I had seen the goriest violence (outside of a horror film) and linguistically filthiest language I had ever witnessed in a film. While "The Wolf of Wall Street" was not as graphic in the violence department, it makes "Good Fellas" seem tame in the language department. Also, the sex scenes are so over-the-top and explicit, this film probably would have garnered an X-rating a few decades ago. It was almost too much, but luckily the story was compelling enough and the excellent performances by Leonard DiCaprio and Jonah Hill convincing enough that it still works fairly well as satisfying cinema.
The film centers around true-to-life penny-stocks trader Jordan Belfort played by Leonardo DiCaprio and his associate Donnie Azoff (Johan Hill) and how they built a multi-million dollar penny-stocks mini-empire which not only violated SEC rules of trading but engaged in securities fraud and money laundering. In typical Scorsese style, the story begins with the voice-over of Belfort, telling his story about eight years of his life in penny stocks trading and eventual securities fraud through his firm Stratton Oakmont from circa 1988 to 1995. Four things seem to drive Belfort: endless sex, gobs of money, constant drug-induced highs, and the endless spewing of expletives.
Belfort begins his story by telling us about the wealth he has achieved engaging in penny-stocks trading. He has a beautiful wife, a beautiful home, a beautiful car (not red but white) and endless amounts of cash in the bank. He can also have his way with just about any woman he desires, and he does, despite the fact he's married to a beautiful model who has family connections to English/British royalty. He seems to have it all, but it wasn't always this way. Time rewinds to the late 1980's when he was married to a different woman while renting an apartment in New York and gets his first position at a stock broker firm. There he meets Mark Hanna (Michael McConaughey) who explains the rules of the game: solitary vices, sex, and getting as much money as possible from clients. This firm sells respectful grade-A stocks to wealthy shareholders. Shortly thereafter, the firm busts as a result of the infamous "Black Monday" crash of 1987.
Belfort then becomes part of a firm trading in penny stocks, worthless low-trading stocks which may or may not have tremendous investment potential. He trades in a so-called "boiler room", a place usually in a low-rent district which sells penny and risky investments to lower-end investors. The one upside is brokers of penny stocks earn a 50% commission than the usual 1% offered at respected brokerage firms. Then an idea occurs to him: what if they can trick higher-end traders to buy the many penny stocks? They'll trade the high-end stocks to higher-income investors, gain their trust, and then manipulate them into buying thousands of shares of penny stocks, i.e. worthless investments.
Donnie Azoff (i.e. Danny Porush) played by Jonah Hill, a neighbor in Belfort's apartment complex asks to be in the business and eventually becomes an important partner in the firm. They rename it Stratton Oakmont Inc. to sound more official and legitimate. The firm grows as a result which leads to an exposé in Forbes Magazine where the article labels him "The Wolf of Wall Street". As the money grows, so does Belfort's desires for more money, more sex, and more Methaqualone, or Quaaludes. And so does his need to use more expletives in practically every other word he utters. The story forms an arc about how he keeps gaining more and more, climbing higher and higher, but simultaneously digging himself a deeper in which to take a huge fall.
So many of the Scorsese devices are present in this film: the voice-over (as mentioned), introductions and short biographies of the major characters, in this case those working at the firm, the height of the characters' successes, all leading towards the climax in which authorities eventually enter the picture. The entire form and arc of the story closely resembles "Good Fellas" and "Casino". I would almost rate the film a "5", but it gets a "4", not because of what it leaves out but for having too much other things. I thought the many sex scenes and endless expletives became overwhelming. They started to detract from the main thrust of the story. There were parts where I wanted to understand better their financial schemes and see less of the sex. Also, Belfort engages in many speeches to his traders, some of which were too long-winded. Whenever the characters enjoy a major success, there would be along speech followed by a huge party and orgy-fest with lots of explicit sex bordering on pornography. I think once or twice would have been plenty, but the parties and orgies are so numerous I lost count. Still a compelling film with an outstanding performance by DiCaprio and honorable mention to Jonah Hill.