A great movie. Nothing more, nothing less.

Rating: 10/10 (18 January 2014)

As a Martin Scorsese fan, this is a film that I was genuinely excited for and it did not disappoint. An amazing film that is among my favorites of 2013. Leonardo DiCaprio gave a performance that is not only the best of his career thus far, but one of the best displays of acting I have seen in the entire Scorsese catalog. I am convinced that if DiCaprio does not win the Best Actor Oscar for this performance, he never will. Jonah Hill (an actor who I admit to not seeing any of his other roles) as Donnie impressed me. His role is one that is just as manic, depraved, and zany. It is easily the most insane Best Supporting Actor nominee since Heath Ledger's Joker. Both actors sucker you into this life of depravity through their charm and smooth tongues.
As a satire with incredibly black humor, there was hardly a moment in the film where I was not laughing. In fact, I cannot remember the last film where I laughed anywhere near this hard on the first viewing. A particular sequence late in the movie (which I won't spoil any details) involving Quaalude's will most likely go down as one of the funniest sequences in any film. It is a testament to just how entertaining this film is (as well as skillfully edited) when you consider that although it runs a minute shy of 3 hours, the film seems more like a 2 hour/2 and a half hour film.
The criticisms of the film glorifying Jordan Belfort is, to me, total hogwash. Just because the film does not demonize him in black-and-white terms does not mean it is a glorification. In fact, I would go on a limb and say that DiCaprio's portrayal of Belfort is the biggest jerk in a Martin Scorsese film since Jake LaMotta from Raging Bull. As for the film not showing the victims of Belfort's schemes, the film is based off of a memoir that is told from Belfort's perspective. With Belfort being a greedy, selfish pig, it is doubtful that he would even give any thought to the people whose lives he ruined and the movie shows that. By leaving out the victims side of the story, you show that it isn't because they don't matter (their lives were ruined), but rather that the film's antagonist couldn't care less about them.
With the film being crammed with explicit sex scenes, rampant drug use (there are only two scenes in the 3 hour movie where the main characters are sober), 500+ f-bombs (and at least 2 uses of the c-word), and orgies (both homo and hetero), I am VERY surprised that this did not receive an NC-17 rating. In fact, if it were not for DiCaprio's presence, I am inclined to believe it would have been NC-17. This is CLEARLY for a mature audience.