Howling on Wall Street

Last Friday I finally got around to watching The Wolf of Wall Street, Martin Scorsese's three hour long movie about Jordan Belfort, starring the ever great Leonardo DiCaprio in the main role.

It's worth noting that this film is based on true events, though some things have been altered as well as some characters that have been melded into one, etc. As an example, the scene where Jordan is so stoned he can't even stand, let alone walk (yet he desperately needs to drive home) was pretty much improvised by DiCaprio.

The fact that this is a real story about real people, is one reason why it's so good. If this had been the pure fantasies of some screen writer, it would have seemed pretty fake.

In case you don't know what this movie is about, by the way, here's a link to the summary on IMDB.

So is this a good movie? Yes. Yes, it really is. My biggest, well only complaint is the length. Three hours is too long, and I don't think it would have suffered by cutting it down by, say half an hour. That said, I enjoyed it thoroughly, even though I would have hated sitting through it in a theater.

One thing that struck me as I was watching, and it's something others have noticed as well, is how similar Wolf is to one of Scorsese's other crime dramas, namely Goodfellas. One of my all time favorite movies BTW. If the first line in Wolf had been “Ever since I could remember, I've always wanted to be a stockbroker” I would not have been the least bit surprised. If you made two lists, one with Jordan's name at the top, and one with Henry Hill's name, and started listing their actions, you would end up with two pretty similar lists. Without spoiling anything major, I'll just say that doing copious amounts of drugs, committing crimes daily and cheating on your wife will have fairly obvious consequences whether you're a stockbroker or a gangster.

I could rant on and on about the gorgeous visuals, the soundtrack, the sterling acting etc etc, but I really think you should just watch The Wolf of Wall Street yourself. Fair warning though, this movie is dripping with sex, naked women and graphic drug use, so be careful who you watch this with. It may not be the ideal film to enjoy with your grandmother. Unless she's cool...

Also, fans of Absolutely Fabulous should watch out for Joanna Lumley's role, since it could well be Patsy Stone if she ever grew up.

Final summary: great movie!

Until next week, stay safe!