Review of The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) by Travis J — 17 Jul 2017

To preface this review, I'm not someone who really gets offended or "grossed out" to actions depicted on screen. I have yet to cower away from watching even the most tasteless of unrated, obscure, and filthy "John Waters-esq" films. However, for the first ever in a film, I sincerely wanted to walk out of Wolf on Wall Street, very early on in the film. Perhaps to the director's credit, my very reaction (albeit, potentially not that extreme, for obvious reasons) was his goal, ultimately, and maybe he succeeded all to well. To this day, I'm unsure what would have been the better decision - leave, or finish watching, but the choice has been made. My issues with this film are based on a variety of choices made, the tone of the film, the length, and awkward lingering of particular scenes with the intent to "showcase" Leonardo's questionable acting "talent" in this film.

First, for some context: Goodfellas is still my favorite film of all time. I could watch it any day of the week, and feel exhilarated, conflicted, and interested in the plight of the disturbed - yet appealing - cast of characters. Goodfellas is film that enters the controversial life of "ganagster", living hectic "nontraditional" businessmen lives breaking the law, and sometimes killing anyone who gets in the way. Despite all the debauchery and ruthlessness displayed by it's characters, they were all still memorable, oddly relatable, and with their own codes of honor and whacked ethics. Many people in the world could likely see eye-to-eye with many of the characters of the film in certain contexts, despite how extreme and savage some their actions might have been. The film knew how to display these characters at the times when they were appealing, and then equally demonstrate the consequences of both their own tragic faults in their personalities, and the faults of the life of being part of a criminal operation.

Now, Wolf on Wallstreet, on the other hand, completely goes off the rails in it's attempt to portray the mindset of the main character. You see through the eyes of the atrocious man so clearly, it's almost as if he was behind the creation of the whole film itself: almost completely glamorizing nearly every single despicable act one could think of, without any attempt to comment, juxtapose, or use these actions to make a statement. It is almost as if we are watching a raw recreation the main character's life for the sole purpose of watching it completely unedited, as if his rampant drug abuse and sexual acts are something of a historical novelty worth experiencing first hand (For one example, the orgies during the height of the roman catholic papacy have this all beat, so where's THAT film?). The humor is lowest common denominator, and worthlessly low brow. The film never seems to show any sign of acknowledging the atrocities displayed by it's characters and plot: it just plods along, showing everything as typical, wonderful, and entertaining. Even during the very end of the film, when the tone finally starts to change, it is only because the character himself is starting to face severe consequences. In theory, all of this "should" be fine, but a director needs to walk a very careful line between exploring/evaluating a criminal's life style, and just displaying needless sexual acts and drug abuse for 3 hours, in a seemingly endless masturbatory manner.

I suppose I don't understand this film's purpose. Goodfellas could also easily be interpreted as masturbatory in nature with it's depiction of violence and crime, but it is also ripe with scenes that establish context, redeem, evaluate or explain characters, and takes a tone that is observant, yet not completely partial to supporting EVEYTHING the main character does. That film took many risks with a controversial figure, and made it an incredibly enjoyable film... Wolf on Wallstreet is disgusting, annoying, and frustrating. The film isn't enjoyable in it's ability to demonstrate or critique these things about it's main characters - it just shows us them, in their full "glory".

The film was such a disappointment.