Scorsese on Top Form

Rating: 10/10 (3 March 2014)

Although I would like to say I'm a Scorsese fan, in all truth I can't. Having only seen three of his films from his long and much talked about career, it would not be right for me to say so. But, having watched 'The Wolf of Wall Street' I already feel like one.
The Wolf of Wall Street makes a strong case for the best and most enjoyable film of the year. Leonardo DiCaprio owns the role and it feels like he was born to play Jordan Belfort, the real life character on which this story is based. The film is set between the 1980s and 90s, it sees Belfort making his way up in Wall Street from only able to sell penny stocks in a small building to making his own company and working with hundreds in a large office.
DiCaprio gives it his all, sniffing, shouting and screeching with all his might and emerges with a performance like no other. Many have argued that Belfort is a character that is vile, repulsive and vulgar. Granted he may be at certain points in the film, yet it is the voice-over that truly gives the film an impact and makes us care about his character (not too dissimilar to the one used in GoodFellas by Ray Liotta). It enables the audience to relate to Jordan Belfort in a way that would not be as powerful or poignant without it.
The minor characters, played by Jonah Hill and Margot Robbie are an unexpected welcome. Especially when I doubted Hill would be able to pull his role off, yet he does a marvellous job of it as Donnie Azoff, Belfort's right hand man. Always funny and excellently acted by Hill, there is no one else who could do a better job. Robbie as Naomi Lapaglia, Belfort's eventual wife brings sexiness and believability to her role and appears to relish every scene she is in.
At its core it is a film about excess and how this can be our downfall, wanting, more and more. Belfort spends his earnings (gained illegally by misguiding customers, therefore making it almost impossible for them to gain a profit) on drugs, women and among many other things his own private yacht with a helicopter, as you do. In most points of the film his humanity is driven alarmingly close to the edge.
Yet, Scorsese and his screen writer Terence Winter fill the film with jokes that we cannot help but laugh, almost entirely throughout its three hour run time. Many of the laughs are unexpected and that certainly helps, with an odd moment involving Belfort and Azoff completely off of their heads and a telephone cord led to me crying with laughter!
All in all this is a perfect film with spectacular performances from the cast. It sees Scorsese at his best bringing the characters to life and even in their most questionable moments making them people that will still care about. At three hours the film never drags or lets up, there are always neat little touches that Scorsese provides – deliberate continuity errors when Belfort is high. The non-stop humour helps and guarantees the audience a good time and the most avid film fan left in waiting for the next Scorsese film.