Sell me this pen!

Rating: 7/10 (17 February 2014)

I spent most of the movie with an incredulous "You've got to be kidding me" reaction, but no joke, the whole story is based on the true life of the real Jordan Belfort, who professes to have really done all the things as portrayed in this movie. Regardless, the movie is wonderful, albeit over the top, with a great cast of characters. Leonardo DiCaprio does a fantastic job as the conniving money-hungry Belfort. Early on, we see the character of Mark Hanna, played by Matthew McConaughey, introduce Belfort to the world of Wall Street with a chest thumping, grunting chorus that would make Tim Allen proud. Belfort teams up with a short overweight poser named Donnie Azoff, played by Johah Hill, who becomes his second hand man. The cast of characters grows, including a wonderful performance by Jon Bernthal of Walking Dead fame, as the bruiser Brad; and relative newcomer Margot Robbie as Belfort's trophy wife Naomi; and Rob Reiner seemingly coming out of retirement to play Belfort's meat-head father. The ongoing narration hearkens back to Scorsese's earlier film Goodfellas, which was a bit too unoriginal and a lazy approach to storytelling. Nonetheless, Belfort takes the audience on a harrowing ride as his life spirals upwards and predictably downwards through fits of drug abuse and wanton sex, all while the feds try to lock him into their sites.