fast-paced, though exceedingly dark comedy about the ruthlessness of the highly competitive stockbroker business

Rating: 9/10 (3 January 2014)

In his fifth collaboration with Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Jordan Belfort, a Long Island stock wizard, whose brokerage firm Stratton Oakmont swindles a multitude of investors in the late 1980's. Based on Belfort's own memoirs, "The Wolf of Wall Street" is a fast- paced, though exceedingly dark comedy about the ruthlessness of the highly competitive stockbroker business.
A film panned by most critics, but in my opinion,its fantastic! In this role, DiCaprio plays the high-roller wannabe Belfort with a manic verve and exhaustive energy. It's hard to imagine how he, Scorsese and co-star Jonah Hill kept up the pace. I have always been a huge fan of DiCaprio. In reality, his performance was the only good thing about "Titanic", a film I loathed. How anyone can enjoy watching a disaster in which 1500 plus humans drown is beyond me, but I digress. "The Wolf of Wall Street" is a gift to DiCaprio --- allowing him to be as outrageous as necessary. Equally addicted and addictive is Hill, portraying the whiny, paranoid wingman, Azoff. This would be a plum role for anyone but I'm not sure anyone except Hill could have jumped off the screen and made Azoff his own as well as Hill. Both DiCaprio and Hill would be in line for Oscars! First half of the movie will pass by like bullets from a M16. Last 25 minutes in the second half might seem a bit boring and slow. But that's okay because the rest of the movie is so fast paced that when it comes to normal your brain may think that the last part is slow,but its not! It is just normal paced! The language of the movie might seem a but over the line for some since it averages 2 F bombs a minute.
Good- The dialogues, editing , Leo's acting Bad- (some)sequences seem similar to The boiler room. Overall- "The Wolf of Wall Street" is infectiously entertaining. It is probably the funniest movie I have seen all year with witty dialogue, over the top characters, and filled with energy that bleeds off the screen. Between all the fun however, there is also a story about addiction and how it can cause a downward spiral in your life whether it be drugs, money, or power.