Review of The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) by Bassmanuw — 30 Dec 2014

The biggest issue with this movie, which knocked it down from a movie that could have been an 8 or 9 to a 4, was that it was far too long. I really enjoyed the first hour or so of the movie, from Belfort's introduction to the brokerage industry through the creation of Stratton Oakmont and their decision to move away from selling penny stocks solely to lower and middle class folks and instead trying to create relationships (and sell those stocks) to wealthier clients. I enjoyed the initial showing of the opulence, fraud, and craziness that was the Stratton Oakmont at least of Belfort's characterization. But then that portion of the film went on... and on... and on... and it added nothing to the understanding of the characters. I got it at 90 minutes into the film: these were bad men who were willing to do awful things to make themselves as wealthy as possible. The continued at great length portrayals of their awfulness did not make me think they were more awful, but instead took me out of the film and made me so bored that, by the time the action actually picked up again (when Belfort realized he was under investigation, his meeting with the FBI agents, and his move to get his money out of the US), I just couldn't get back into it. The movie could have easily cut a half hour off the run time and I would have felt it would have ended with a better result. For example, I felt the entire IPO Day scene was unnecessary. We already knew Donnie was a jerk, the fish eating/firing scene added nothing. We already knew that, at least according to Belfort, Stratton Oakmont viewed him as a something akin to a cult leader. We didn't need him herding the sheep after Madden tried to speak. That scene also seemed the most hollow and untrue to me in the film.

I also think the film could have been better had they done some more research BEYOND Belfort's memoir, and didn't just essentially present Belfort's memoir as fact. I would have found it much more interesting to have seen Belfort's rendition juxtaposed with what others (who said the environment was much more tame) said.

Other point: too much was focused on the Naomi relationship. It was clear from moment one that she liked Belfort solely for his money and the lifestyle he could provide. They didn't need to treat it like it was some crazy reveal, like we didn't get that he was delusional about their relationship.

I didn't get pulled back into the movie until the very last scene, where Belfort was doing the sales motivational speech, and you got pulled back into what made his group able to pull off the sort of fraud they did: they were able to convince buyers that they needed something that they did not actually need.

Short version: could have been a great movie, had a great start, but was at least a half hour too long and stuck too close to Belfort's telling as opposed to trying to provide some more objective truth.