Review of The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) by Wesley M — 30 Mar 2015

An excellent movie anchored superbly by the the performances of the leads (and the supporting cast!) and direction that is as utterly competent as you'd expect.

Problem is I feel the story would occasionally get lost in itself. Not that it was hard to follow, the pacing was in fact on point, but it squeezes in many details that don't pay off and the length is padded more than it needs. Its a character study, a black comedy and a crime drama that avoids most cliches and it'd be impossible to call it derivative. Debauchery abounds, and this movie is definitely *not* about the hardworking 'good guy' FBI agents who end up taking down the corrupt and morally bankrupt main character. Their investigation is only portrayed as incidental to Jordan's shenanigans. But this isn't because Jordan is a PROtagonist, oh no. Its hard to like him but you probably will not hate him (although you would have cause to) since, unlike some movies in this vein, he pays dearly for all of his excesses, and it turns out he's not quite the mastermind he pretends. Where other movies would have the smooth-customer exec pulling double-crosses and cons to stay ahead of the cops, Jordan is a drugged-out salesman scrambling to hold his 'empire' together and failing at almost every turn, usually due to his own doings or those of his 'friends.' But you can't really feel pity for him either. All in all the character is fully realized and you do want to see his plight through for his sake, no matter how you feel about him.

Jordan also narrates his journey in the 'speak to the camera as I move through the scene' style and in voice-over. Normally I find this a bit of a lazy move, especially when its throughout the movie, but it gets played with here to some good effect. It still feels a bit like Scorcese is treating the audience as dumb, and maybe... just maybe that's the point. Jordan is after all a salesman and by letting him address the audience directly you can experience him trying to 'sell' himself and his story. Maybe he is trying to play us for suckers as he does everyone else. So it works but it still sticks out and hampers my overall opinion of the film.

So while it doesn't hit every single note right, the entire symphony works really well and DiCaprio is once again proving that the Academy Awards are a farce. The charisma this guy can bring to the screen.