sometimes hilarious

Rating: 7/10 (10 November 2014)

Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a regular guy from Long Island working at the ground level in a Wall Street firm where Mark Hanna (Matthew McConaughey) is the star broker. On the first day of him becoming a licensed stockbroker, the market crashes in Black Monday. His firm goes bankrupt and he's thrown into the streets. With the support of his wife Teresa (Cristin Milioti), he ends up working in a Long Island boiler room dealing in penny stocks. He starts his own firm gathering a group of questionable salesman like Donnie Azoff (Jonah Hill). He quickly rises gaining the attention of FBI Agent Patrick Denham (Kyle Chandler). It is a drug-filled, stripper-strutting, midget-throwing wild-partying office. Jordan has an affair with Naomi Lapaglia (Margot Robbie) and eventually even marrying her. However the high life doesn't last even with their own Swiss banker.
This has some funny moments and sometimes even gut busting hilarity. I do have a small problem trying to enjoy this movie at the start. Jordan becomes essentially a con man. The joke is that they're having all this fun but I can never forget that the fun is done on everybody else's dime. The characters laugh while I cringe. About halfway through, I do get acclimatized and feel more at ease with the movie. There are some great scenes. The scene of Jordan rallying the troops for the Steve Madden IPO is amazing. Leo gives a full-out performance.