The Wolf of Wall Street Review (1 Viewer)

Clocking in at a hefty three hours, The Wolf of Wall Street is a surreal study in excess, debauchery and narcotics that’s not for the faint of heart. Think of the film itself as one giant metaphor for the subject matter. Jordan’s meteoric rise from the ranks of the middle-class to the upper echelons of the rich and powerful makes him — and all those who idolize and follow him — a poster child for “too much, too soon”, impairing his judgment and leaving him with a distorted world view. With very few actual barriers between him and his desires, he becomes a slave to his primal urges, guided only by his inflated ego and animal instincts. All of this is reflected in Scorsese’s opus, which revels in its depictions of hedonism and drug use, coating everything in a candy shell layer of absurdity and sardonic humor. There’s no denying the entertainment factor of the film; but it's easy to forget that beneath all of it is a cautionary tale of greed and power, even though its impact may be muted by the more bombastic elements of the script.

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Vic Pardo said:

Everyone raving about this movie should keep in mind that Jordan Belfort (portrayed in the film by Di Caprio) ripped off ordinary citizens (not rich people) for millions and millions of dollars. He still hasn't paid them all back, yet he's making money off his book and this movie. He's promised to use the profits to pay them back, but I'd rather not pay a cent to see this movie until he's made good on his promise.

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Then, intercut with Popeye eating spinach, the film shows Belfort irrevocably high on Quaaludes (or "ludes," a muscle relaxer) and dumps coke into his nose to remedy the situation—more cheers. The worst, though...

Spoiler

was that at one point later in the movie, the feds get Belfort to wear a wire to implicate others at his firm. Meeting with his No. 2, Belfort slides over a piece of paper: "Don't incriminate yourself. I am wearing a wire." And the crowd goes wild. Don't rat! Stand by your firm!

Bankers: First of all, don't cheer in a movie. It's weird. You can laugh, but no cheering. Second, guffawing while Leo attempts to evade federal indictment doesn't exactly help America's perception of your societal value. Hopefully this kind of euphoria was confined to one boozy, Financial District pre-screening (Paramount gave us popcorn and martinis upon entrance), because it would be a real shame if Martin Scorsese just accidentally inspired the future Jordan Belforts of the world.

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mattCR said:

This is a big problem I have with the film too. Because he was in the financial sector, the 'son of sam' laws get bypassed thanks to his plea deal with the government. Belefort stole hundreds of millions, and while I enjoyed the book, I often felt.. a bit abashed at a book that too often focused on celebrating the wild and crazy life, and not enough about the real consequences to others.

There was another film - nowhere near as good, but interesting - that focused on this with a much more 'they are bad guys' mantra ... in 'Boiler Room' (2000).

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Edwin-S said:

...it has everything to do with the scumbag who will profit from its success. I'm sure the word of a scumbag that defrauded thousands of ordinary people out of their savings can be taken at face value when he says that he intends to pay them back.

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TravisR said:

Is he legally obligated to pay his victims back though? If he has to make restitution then at least, they'll get something back off of that thieving piece of garbage. If he's not being forced to pay people back then I wouldn't take him at his word either (then again, I wouldn't trust my own mother if she worked on Wall Street either)

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According to federal prosecutors, Belfort has failed to live up to the restitution requirement of his 2003 sentencing agreement. The agreement requires him to pay 50% of his income towards restitution to the 1,513 clients he defrauded. Of the $11.6 million that has been recovered by Belfort's victims, $10.4 million of the total is the result of the sale of forfeited properties. The sentencing agreement mandates a total of $110 million in restitution.[11]
In October 2013, federal prosecutors filed a complaint that Belfort, who had income of $1,767,209 from the publication of his two books and the sale of the movie rights, plus an additional $24,000 from motivational speaking since 2007, paid restitution of only $243,000 over the past four years. The government is currently not holding Belfort in default of his payments in order to keep negotiations open, but it is unclear when the full amount of the mandated restitution will be repaid.[12]

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schan1269 said:

I'm always amused when people can't handle a sex scene...but a grenade blowing people up is fine.

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