For Martin Scorsese Fans

Rating: 9/10 (31 December 2013)

Needless to say, but Martin Scorsese is one of the best living directors, and has kept the consistency. He has brought us classics such as Taxi Driver and Raging Bull to Goodfellas, Gangs of New York, and my favorite, The Departed. But now Mr. Scorsese has brought us another great film that is a must see for all Scorsese fans, The Wolf of Wall Street.
With this film, Scorsese is collaborating with star Leonardo DiCaprio for the fifth time. Here, DiCaprio stars as Jordan Belfort, a Wall Street stock broker who never knew when to say quit. The film begins with him starting out at a Wall Street firm manning phones. Shortly after beginning work, his boss Mark Hanna (Matthew McConaughey) takes him out for lunch and coaches him on how to survive on Wall Street by recommending to Jordan to take up his lifestyle of drugs and prostitutes. After a the firm goes out of business, Jordan's wife Teresa (Christin Milioti) finds a job in the want ads that will fit him. His new boss Dwayne (Spike Jonze) gives him new information about the stocks his place sells and offers an unusual reward if he sells ten thousand dollars worth of stock. Jordan's selling strategy hugely impresses all of his coworkers and earns him a fortune.
At a diner, Jordan meets Donnie Azoff (Jonah Hill), a salesman who coincidentally is a neighbor of Jordan's who wants in on his business. Shortly after, they have their own firm and recruit some of Jordan's old coworkers to join in. Standing out among them is Jordan's friend Brad (Jon Bernthal), who also deals drugs. However, the firm has become wild and crazy, which causes Jordan to hire his dad Max (Rob Reiner) to handle the finances. Jordan also throws many wild and crazy parties involving drugs and sex. At one of his parties, Jordan meets Naomi (Margot Robbie), and they hit it off leading to a divorce from Teresa and a new marriage to Naomi. Jordan's actions lead to an investigation of him and his firm Stratton Oakmont by FBI agent Patrick Denham (Kyle Chandler).
In the three hour run time Martin Scorsese has put on this film, he gives his audience a wild and crazy ride through the life of Jordan Belfort. As a storyteller, Scorsese doesn't hold anything back. He is not afraid to show us the sex these characters have or have us witness these people doing drugs. I do think that some parts of the film could have been trimmed down, but Scorsese keeps everything in that is important to Jordan's story. The times does fly by quickly. Terence Winter wrote the script and does a great job of making the story run smoothly. Winter does a great job at writing out the dialogue for each of the characters, but the cast also does excellent at bringing Winter's script to life.
Leonardo DiCaprio continues to show why he keeps starring in Scorsese's films, and shows a lot of greatness here as Jordan Belfort. With this role, DiCaprio brings confidence, craziness, determination, and a lot more. DiCaprio fleshes out this character and makes him into somebody who is living his dream, but doesn't know when to say quit. The rest of the cast is great too. I truly enjoyed Margot Robbie as Jordan's second wife Naomi. She takes this role of the wife and makes her into a strong and attractive who knows how to stand up to her husband. Rob Reiner is great as Jordan's dad Max who is there for his son and goes nuts at times but can turn the craziness off at the right time. Jon Bernthal is also great as Jordan's drug dealing friend Brad. Jonah Hill is good as Jordan's right hand man Donnie Azoff, but excessively over the top. The standout of the supporting cast is Kyle Chandler as FBI agent Patrick Denham. Chandler is excellent as the agent who was assigned to the case. With his scenes, Chandler makes some great acting choices with his eyes that indicate Denham's intelligence.
Like all of Scorsese's films, there are some great things that stand out technically too. The cinematography by Rodrigo Prieto is nice with the lighting in each scene. Thelma Schoonmaker, who has been editing Scorsese's films since Raging Bull, does a lot of great work with making each scene dramatic or exciting and putting the whole thing together.
While I highly enjoyed The Wolf of Wall Street, I must say that this is not for everyone. I recommend this for Martin Scorsese fans and those who enjoy great acting.