Review of The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) by Scrawnypunk — 23 Jan 2014
Absolutely terrible. Overly indulgent at 3 hours - I get it (his life was just so), but that's no excuse for about an hour and a half of extraneous material. Inexcusably sympathetic towards criminals (99% shows their debauchery, 1% shows their justice). Excessively misogynistic. And worst of all (aside from being boring) is that it feeds the ego of a true scumbag...he remains famous, he gets a sympathetic day in the sun, his victims don't even get the recognition of a name. Absolutely atrocious.
This could have been a great piece if...it spent half as much time personalizing Belfort's victim's as it did cataloging his hedonistic excesses...if it gave any insight into the motives and methods of the investigative team...if it treated sympathetic characters with sympathy (his wife, the lead detective who ends up on a subway, etc.)...if it chronicled his fall instead of showing us 2 minutes of a sleazy sales seminar...if it had a coda listing all the people who were ruined as the credits rolled (maybe it did; I didn't stick around)...if it was anything but a free pass for the scumbags involved.
This should be the movie that Scorsese and DiCaprio later tell us they are ashamed of. Instead, it is nominated for an Oscar.
This review of The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) was written by Scrawnypunk on 23 Jan 2014.
The Wolf of Wall Street has generally received very positive reviews.
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