entertaining and strong message

Rating: 8/10 (11 January 2014)

Reading a lot of negative reviews i found the need to comment. Most reviewers don't like the fact that the movie doesn't criticise the immoral behavior of the main characters and the lack of attention for their victims.
In my opinion Scorsese does have attention for the victims (society) by criticising the greed, and passivity of most normal people today. This couldn't be more clear in the last scene where we see a shot of an audience full of gray mice, hoping to get rich but lacking any form of confidence to actually be somebody (this.. is.. uhhh.. a beautiful pen), like a mirror towards the audience in the theater room. Scorsese is like.. you deserve to get ripped off by people like Belfort because you let them. Also, all the immoral behavior we have seen before, is meant to further criticise the behavior of the masses, these are the things you wish for, this is what you get. To me the movie was great because Belfort got away with it, and that's societies fault, we are the ones that are praising this kind of behavior (kind of hypocrite to deliver such a message though a $100mil piece of hollow entertainment, but that's a different discussion).
Overall I think the scenes where funny and entertaining. I know the displayed behavior is immoral, I don't need to have the movie explain that to me. The fact that this movie didn't bore me with the obligatory moral made it funnier, more exciting and more ridiculous. The events are completely over the top, together with DiCaprio acting, his character suffers from increasing delusions of grandeur and it just gets crazier. The movie could have been shorter because the plot is not that elaborate, but to me the length was fine because the movie succeeded in having the craziness build up in such a way that I was entertained the whole time. I think the movie tried to show emptiness through repetition like in spring breakers and the bling ring. The main difference is that this movie manages to be entertaining in the process.
Not everything was great though. I already knew that Belfort was getting away with his crimes by turning on his friends, so when he was given the wire I was like " great! now we finally get to see what a rat this guy really is" and then he passes this note to Donnie.. so now I have to believe Belfort is a loyal guy after all? Not sure what the movie wanted from me at that point.
Furthermore, the movie could be less insulting to my intelligence as a viewer and explain a bit more about the depths of the criminal practices, now the movie is like "I don't want to bore you by making you think, just believe me.. this sh*t is illegal". Actually, because it was far from subtle (they could have just skipped it altogether), this is probably Scorsese saying "you guys don't want to think anyway... take these tits".
Also, I can understand this movie is not for everyone, women won't like the way that women are portrayed here and I can't blame them. Drug use and prostitution are glorified (which I think is funny) I can assume that to a lot of people it isn't.
What sticks to me after seeing this movie is that both victims and criminals on wall street are guilty of greediness. The main difference is that the victims are passive sheep, hoping to get rich without doing the effort, while the criminals work their asses off at the expense of having a life filled with love. In the end: don't be a sheep, don't be a criminal, do something that you love and gives you satisfaction, like the FBI agent when he over thinks his success in the train.
Conclusion: the movie contains enough criticism towards society, delivers a message about how to live your life, is subtle about it, and manages to be funny for 180 minutes. If you're not offended by a pair of breasts, prostitution and drug use, definitely go and see this one.