Racey, No, Raunchy Spectacle of Greed and Excess

Rating: 8/10 (30 December 2013)

An "X" rating could be justified; but otherwise it is a delightful romp steered expertly by DiCaprio who delivers a character with extremes from hilarious to pitiful. Clearly he is developing into one of Hollywood's most watchable male leads. It kept occurring to me that he had worked hard on this movie, not drifting from one scene to the next. Not only were his lines the stuff of legend, his antics were exhaustive (although some must have been a hoot to film). If on-screen sex - simulated or maybe even real - offends you, there is no way you will be entertained by this movie and its additional display of excessive drug use, lust, greed, and/or the debasing behavior at virtually every minute of this 3-hour movie. All that said, as a red-blooded American male, I loved it all . . . it reminded me of "Hangover" with a business twist. And DiCaprio has grown from an awkward boy star to revive memories of the likes of Clark Gable, Bogart, and Cary Grant; in fact, he can even summon up comedic antics not seen since Jerry Lewis.