A very good Martin Scorsese film

Rating: 9/10 (9 February 2014)

Movie based on the life of Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio). He was a poor man who joined Wall Street in the late 1980s. He slowly built his way up to the top--making his own company and doing anything (legal or illegal) to come out on top. He also became addicted to drugs and sex and it slowly destroys him.
A VERY good but not great Scorsese film. Let's get the negatives out of the way first--it's far too long at 3 hours (this could easily have lost 30 minutes); Jonah Hill is TERRIBLE and annoying in a supporting role; the constant swearing and screaming gets tiresome; there's WAY too much female nudity (while a scene with male nudity was cut down to nothing) and there's no real ending...it just sort of stops. Still I loved it a lot more than I hated it. The acting was great by everybody (save Hill). DiCaprio was brilliant in the title role. Who knew he could do comedy as well as drama? He anchors this film and he's never less than mesmerizing. As I said mostly everybody else is good but special mention must be made for Margot Robbie (as his second wife Naomi) and Joanna Lumley who is incredible as Aunt Emma. The story moves fairly quickly and there's a great use of period music. So this is excellent but not great Scorsese.