Welcome back, Marty!; the master in taking debauchery as comfort food for his legion of fans

Rating: Null/10 (26 December 2013)

THE WOLF OF WALL STREET (2013) ***1/2 Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Magot Robbi, Matthew McConaughey, Kyle Chandler, Rob Reiner, Jon Berenthal, Jean Dujardin, Joanna Lumley, Cristin Milioti, PJ Pyrne, Ketteh Choi, Brian Sacca, Henry Zebrowski, Ethan Suplee, Jake Hoffman, Mackenzie Meehan, Shea Whigham, Ted Griffin, Fran Lebowitz, Grobert Clohessy (Cameo unbilled: Spike Jonze)
Martin Scorsese continues to outdo himself (in all the right ways and perhaps a bit too much) with his outsized adaptation of Jordan Belfort's book (brilliantly and perhaps belatedly by Terence Winter) about his days as a hot-shot scheming stockbroker (played to fierce nearly scene-chewing ferocity by DiCaprio at his blinding charismatic best) who coerces a ragtag team of schnooks into one blazing trail of junk bonds, coke-fueled trip to hell and back in the 1990s with corruption, good ol' fashion screwing (of all types) and financial chicanery making Gordon Gekko look like Pat Boone in ambitious skullduggery. Stellar support includes Hill as a cross-between Gene Wilder on acid and Joe Pesci on 'ludes -as DiCaprio's right-hand man(ic); heartbreakingly gorgeous Robbi as the glam trophy wife of sorts who seems too good to be true; and a laugh-out-loud turn by McConaughey as an early mentor in hookers and blow(hard) entrepreneurial go-for-broke mania. Playing by his previous masterpieces "GoodFellas" and "Casino" Marty goes-thru-the-paces of his grab bag (i.e. breaking the '4th wall' talking to the audience; golden soundtrack of FM hits of the eras; an anti-hero to root for and see the mea culpa final act in crash-and-burn) yet don't' begrudge a master in taking debauchery as comfort food for his legion of fans; a return to form of sorts - Welcome back, Marty!