"The Wolf of Wall Street" Review

After about two hours, the charm "The Wolf of Wall Street" builds up quickly wears down, and there is still one more to go.

Leonardo DiCaprio enthusiastically plays Jordan Belfort, the cocky owner of a multi-billion dollar stock firm. He is a very entertaining character. He is charismatic, he is charming and he is a womanizer. To accurately describe him, think Barney Stinson on drugs.

The beginning of the film is very interesting as it shows how he became a major tycoon from a poor, newly-married, young man. Belfort originally worked on Wall Street, but he lost his job due to the major crash in 1987. He then started selling penny stocks, which is pretty shady because the investors make little to no money while he gets 50 percent commission. Eventually he starts his own penny stock firm with the classless Donnie Azoff (Jonah Hill) along with some other sleaze-balls who have a lot of sales experience from vending marijuana.

Essentially, this movie is the rise and fall of a very wealthy man. The main conflict comes from an FBI investigation into his company. He and the people who helped him start it know that much of what they do is illegal, and they proactively seek to cover it up.

In a way, this film is a satire of the Wall Street culture. This is set up in the beginning when Belfort's boss, Mark Hanna (Matthew McConaughey), gives him advice that their job as brokers is not for their clients to earn money, but to gain profit for the company. Hanna also instructs him that in order to survive the frantic industry, he needs to do cocaine and relieve himself sexually as much as he can.

Belfort takes this advice from someone who is obviously not the best of people, and he becomes just like him. He only looks out for himself, he undergoes two marriages and he becomes increasingly dependent on many different drugs. Furthermore, he becomes addicted to sexual activities with multiple partners. After seeing this, I would not be surprised to find out that there really is no morality on Wall Street.

After about two hours, it starts dragging. Director Martin Scorsese is very detailed, but he seems to think he needs to include everything about everything. It becomes very repetitive, particularly in scenes dealing with drug abuse. During those moments, I wondered if it is meant for people who are on drugs.

I do not know the exact reason the film was so long. My own hypothesis is it is intended to put the audience in the perspective of those close to Belfort. He is completely immoral throughout the film, but there is a certain charm to the character in the beginning. By the end, it starts wearing out because of the length. That would make sense to me, but the enjoyment of the film itself also starts to wear out, and this movie would have benefitted with a much tighter cut.

As someone who is religious, I also do not appreciate all the sex and nudity in this film. There are quite a few scenes that depict it. The reason for it was to show an important part of the culture this film depicts, but there is so much of it, that I wonder if Scorsese just wanted to make pornography.

I give this movie 3 out of 5 stars. It is a very interesting film. However, it is bogged down by a lengthy running time and too much sex and nudity. I recommend seeing it on DVD. If you tend to be someone who wants to avoid sexuality in films, I advise you do not see this. I myself will probably never see it again.

Content: Rated R. There is a lot of language including the F-word and even a few uses of the C-word. There is a lot of full-frontal female nudity and sex scenes. There is a scene of bloody violence, and at least one scene of spousal abuse. There are a couple scenes that might depict rape, but the way it was filmed, I am not sure if that is what it is.

For more details on how I rate films, visit http://criticalchristopher.blogspot.com/2014/01/defining-rating-criteria.html