Well done, overlong, Scorsese epic

Rating: 7/10 (3 February 2014)

Another review of an Oscar Nominated Film, The Wolf of Wall Street (2013). POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD:
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) is a Martin Scorsese film. With that you've said a lot. First, you know it will be a serious well made film. Unfortunately, you also know that you've seen this style before. This is a great film. It is compelling, interesting, and hard to look away from. At the same time, it seems very familiar in its style, like a dream you've had before. Not that you didn't like the dream, but it does seem somehow familiar. The "great" film inside of The Wolf of Wall Street, however, is hidden inside a three hour long "good" movie. There are great things about the film, but it seems like we're riding a wave of Scorsese stream of consciousness here that is not to be stopped. About an hour of trimming would have given us the GREAT film we were looking for. I know that some important episodes would have been left on the cutting room floor, but this is about entertainment. And the entertainment value of the film would have been enhanced by the cuts. I like the film, but I didn't, in fact, love it. I will say that it has about the funniest 15 minutes in any film this side of Monty Python when a drug induced episode calls for some slapstick humor that had me rolling in stitches and hoping it would end before I exploded. Funny as can be and worth the price of admission.
Highly recommended, and one of the best films of the year. HOWEVER, I consider it a weak year in the best picture category.