I Enjoyed Most of It

Rating: 7/10 (26 January 2014)

The varied reviews of this movie with rating from 1 to 10, from garbage to Oscare nominee and best of Scorsese, amused me, and I have to say I found some truth in most of them. Is this movie entertaining, definitely YES. Is this movie too long, in my opinion, also yes. A lot of the naysayers say that the movie glorified the excesses of drugs, women, money and just about everything that can be abused. I wouldn't say that it glorifies it but rather that it presents a pretty honest view of how these times in the market were. I loved DiCaprio in this role. He doesn't play a lot of characters that are just completely unlikable and here is no exception, the charisma and charm of Jordan Belfort is played well here, but it also shows the fall that ultimately come from the deceit.
If you ever saw the movie Boiler Room, with Giovanni Ribisi, then you know the basic plot and what Boiler Rooms are. Wolf is tremendously better written, directed and acted, but the general plot is the same.
In the end I enjoyed this movie, though I think 30 minutes or so more editing to get the movie down to a more reasonable 2 1/2 hours, would have helped. I agree that this is Scorsese's best movie in years. I enjoyed this movie and I think you will too, just don't expect a morally uplifting theme here, it's not Frank Capra.