The Wolf of Wall Street
Wolf of Wall Street: based on the memoirs of a drugged-up banker that did a load of bad things. Most obviously, three hours is just far, far, far too long for this story, which is essentially: motivational speech, loads of drugs, party harder than Andrew WK, repeat x20. The premise is classic Scorsese – rise-and-fall – but they way in which it’s told, what he chose to film, and how he chose to film it is anything but. There’s so much skin, sex, sensationilsm, and alpha-male testosterone in here that it felt like Michael Bay defiling a Scorsese sceenplay. Another huge problem is that the main character – Jordan Belfort – isn’t even remotely likeable or interesting; just a one-dimensional, remorseless asshole. On the plus side the script it great, the casting is magnificent and Scorsese really gets the most from them. It’s also very funny, funnier than most comedies, although it does have a lot of time to play with. Sadly, it feels a bit cheap coming from someone that’s brought us films like The Departed, Goodfellas, Gangs of New York, Taxi Driver… and it made me remember how good a film Boiler Room was. Scorsese – you’re above this. Studios – no director is above cutting empty & pointless scenes from! Not Scorsese, not Tarantino, nobody.
Score: 4.5/10
I haven’t seen it, but I do wonder of the people I personally know that did like the movie: Did they like it because it was a good movie, or did they like it because like most Cornell students, they idolize anything remotely related to Wall Street?
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Ha ha ha – I love the idea of people taking notes on “how to be a crazy trader” through watching this.
“Hire midgets”
“Hire prostitutes”
“Do many, many, hard drugs!”
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I actually enjoyed this one. Yes, Belfort is an asshole but I took that to be part of the charm of the film. We get to see this piece of shit live the life of debauched luxury at the expense of those off-screen saps he plunders. The laugh-out-loud moments and DiCaprio’s performance make the unlikable, very likable – in that, I found myself enjoying this crazy rich-man’s drug-fueled, sex-fueled journey we go. The great thing about it is that he gets away with it. Scorsese doesn’t care about giving us this man’s comeuppance – he says, there’s people like this out there in real life and they are getting away with it every day!
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Guess so, I can understand why it’s entertaining, and was laughing myself at bits like the Ludes kicking in / office parties… But I was expecting something a little classier from Scorsese. It all felt more sensational and leery than his usual works.
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