Great fictional work from Hollywood

Rating: 7/10 (3 June 2014)

This is one of those films that will make the smart consumer think about what it means to "like" a piece of art work (if you can call Hollywood filmmaking that). Is the film glorifying the horrible crimes that Belfort and his cronies committed, and if so, can one still judge the film and the actors based on their performance and not on the morality of its subject matter? It's difficult, and I respect both types of opinions.
Just looking at the film as a fictional story (which I am sure it is, mostly, since Belfort seems to have a knack for embellishing the truth and making a seemingly uninteresting thing the most exciting thing in the world to sell it as best as he can), the plot is rather formulaic for Hollywood standards. Character development is not the main point here, as the characters are larger than life caricatures, even down to the "boy scout" FBI guy who has it in for the bad guy (whose motives and story are almost entirely unknown to us, since the story is narrated by Belfort). DiCaprio is in top form, but the rest of the actors and actresses take the prize in genuinely thrilling performances. The acting is probably the best aspect of the film (apart from the glimmer and shine), as every single main and supporting role is played to full potential and perfectly to fit the caricature written out for it.
Perhaps the most interesting character is Belfort's number 1, Donnie. We see more character development here, where the nerdy and greedy guy rises to the top and lives a very large life. His morals seem even more lacking than Belfort's, but this is perhaps because Belfort is telling the story.
The other interesting, though not novel, part of the story is the role of drugs in Wall Street. Drugs and inevitably sex. It is perhaps alarming that the markets that can ruin our lives by crashing, etc. are run by people who abuse drugs all the time. Belfort is not the one to say this first, and I am sure he won't be the last, either.
All in all, the film is "entertaining," if not cringe-worthy. Some moments that are absolutely hilarious in their absurdity can make you cry if you lost a lot of money in the market or lost your job in the recent economic crisis, because in reality, they are not funny. That a company can make billions within hours of a launch, well, that is just sickening no matter what your world view is, unless you are the guy who is making all the money (in which case it is kind of sickening, still, but in a different way).
Moralistically, the film is like any art work that deals with humans who commit crimes. I did not find it more glorifying than mafia films where the godfather orders people's deaths "for the family." The truth is most humans have a moral understanding and ways to justify their actions according to some moral structure, no matter how twisted or unorthodox the rest of the people might think their structure is. Belfort justified his actions in some ways, and his actions hurt people (including his family), like any other criminal. I did not come away with a message from the film that said "What Belfort did was awesome!" It was certainly something more like "Belfort was successful. His success hurt other people and helped some others. In general, he was an asshole, who did not care much about anyone, but himself and for anything, but getting rich."
The real message is: don't invest your money in the stock market unless you are filthy rich. And even then, don't invest too much of it.