Worth Seeing

Rating: 7/10 (14 January 2014)

What I dislike about "The Wolf of Wall Street" is that it has some scenes which compare drug-induced behavior to cerebral palsy or use the r-word, but it is intended to show how reprehensible people like Jordan Belfort are. I would rate the film 7.5 out of 10. Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Matthew McConaughey, Margot Robie, the Amy Priestly (sp?) and the rest of the oddball cast are superb. The actresses who play Belfort's two wives are convincing in their conflict between living the life they want and their reluctance to put up with Belfort's swindling, womanizing, and misogyny. Jordan Belfort begins as a broker in 1987 at the age of 26, when he makes $49 million. When the stock market tanks later in the year, he takes a job as a stockbroker at a "pink sheet" company, meaning second-tier stocks that are not on par with NASDAQ or Dow Jones. Belfort nonetheless has the "gift of the Gab" and is able to sell almost anything and talk customers out of their money. He struggles not only with drugs and gambling but also with the FBI breathing down his neck even as he hides his ill-begotten gains in Swiss banks. Eventually someone is arrested about two hours into the movie. Without giving too much away, I will say the yacht ride through the storm in the Mediterranean Sea is one of the most exciting scenes. The movie still drags in some places, and Belfort eventually tries to give up alcohol, hired women, and Quaaludes and go legit. The nearly three hour film kept me entertained, and it hardly seemed that long; the time sure flew by. Scorsese's films sometimes run a bit longer than expected or bite off more than they can chew; this movie certainly does not lack for ambition.