4 out of 5. Highly recommended.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.
Here's my full review.