Flashy, but shallow

Rating: 6/10 (22 January 2014)

The Wolf of Wall Street is not a bad flick, but suffers from an over-abundance of narration. Some will like that, some won't. Di Caprio is very good, as are his supporting cast. The direction is good, the script is snappy, and the audience is blind.
The excess of narration generally doesn't work for me. Some on this site claim it should get an Oscar (and maybe it will in some category), but it's not good enough for Best Picture or Best Director.
Jordan Belfort stole millions, ruined lives, and despite this, Scorsese prefers to celebrate him. It's one thing to praise a fictional character's bad deeds, but given the devastating recent global financial crises (which was itself just another con), I'm surprised that audiences are lapping this up. Actually, maybe I'm not so surprised, since the cult of money counts even average audiences amongst it's believers.
Despite the film's good points, I struggled to really enjoy it, given that everything it preaches is the antithesis of morality. Now, don't get me wrong, I've watched and enjoyed my fair share of amoral (and immoral) films, but the whole GFC just makes me mad, as it should any rational human being. It was simply stealing money from people who can't afford it. There were no redeeming features about it, and this film chooses to celebrate that.
If you don't care about all that, I'm sure you'll enjoy the film (and it is enjoyable). If you have a conscience, you might not be taken in so much by it's worship of money.