Over-hyped but mediocre at best

Rating: 6/10 (9 January 2014)

With all the hype surrounding 'The Wolf of Wall Street', I went to see it expecting something mind-blowing, but what I've seen was a mediocre biopic at best.
It is clear that Scorsese's intention here was obviously to make the new 'Goodfellas' or even the new 'Godfather', but most of the time 'The Wolf' runs flat and fails to engage. I couldn't really tell whose fault that was, because the the pacing was pretty solid for a three hour flick and the balance between comical and serious bits was just about right, but I somehow failed to care about pretty much anything going on in the film.
Everything that happens on the screen seems to just happen; there is no real plot, there is no real suspense and there is no real development of any kind. All character development happens in the first 15 minutes or so, and from that point on 'The Wolf' is just a steady flatland ride filled with gang bangs, drug abuse, cock jokes, cursing and generally bad taste, most of which serves the story itself in no way, but has somehow managed to create enough hype to be listed among 100 best films of all time here at IMDb.
I can understand all the hype about Leonardo DiCaprio, because he was really good, but the sea of mediocrity surrounding him might have made him look a bit better than he actually was. What I don't understand is the general word about this film being the best Scorsese's work ever. In my opinion, this one doesn't come even close to 'The Departed', not the mention the real classics as 'Goodfellas', 'Casino' or 'The Taxi Driver'. What I especially do not understand are the stories about Matthew McConaughey deserving an Oscar for supporting role... for a mere three minute long Christopher Walken cameo impersonation?! I mean, come on, people!
All in all, 'The Wolf of Wall Street' is not a bad film, but it's far from good and it's far from being a classic. It has its moments, but most of the time it's far from excellence once made by Martin Scorsese. I wouldn't go that far to call it forgettable, but I have a strong feeling it won't be talked about this much in just a year or two. Time will tell.
6/10