REVIEW: Wolf Of Wall Street

The Wolf of Wall Street

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MIGHT director Marin Scorsese be accused of being just a tad self-indulgent given the three-hour running time of this much-talked about epic?

Did someone say self-indulgent? The excesses depicted in this screen adaptation of rogue stockbroker Jordan Belfort’s own book, on which the film is based, make the Wall Street of Gordon Gekko look laughably tame by comparison.

Played with a crazy glint in his eye by Leo DiCaprio, who appears to have picked up the torch tossed down in devil-may-care fashion by Jack Nicholson, the film tells Belfort’s rise and fall story of a man whose definition of the high life is perhaps best summed up in an apparent penchant for piloting helicopters while on drugs.

Giving scope for some head-turning performances and working to a screenplay which is almost as sharp and quotable as Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, Scorsese’s movie has much to admire, even if none of the central characters could exactly be described as loveable.

DiCaprio uses a number of direct-to-camera monologues to bring the viewer up to speed with what’s happening and his thought processes. So early on, he’s confesses with barely concealed glee: “On a daily basis I consume enough drugs to sedate Manhattan, Long Island, and Queens for a month. I take Quaaludes 10-15 times a day for my ‘back pain’, Adderall to stay focused, Xanax to take the edge off, part to mellow me out, cocaine to wake me back up again, and morphine... Well, because it's awesome.”

The lazy temptation is to call it a rags to riches and back to rags morality tale. The truth though is that Belfort was the son of accountants and when his fall came, he was given a pretty soft landing. If anything, in a world where criminals are often feted on their release and rewarded with book deals, it invites the viewer to question that old chestnut about crime not paying.

At one point we see Agent Patrick Denham (Kyle Chandler), the straight FBI man on Belfort’s case, riding home on the subway, looking at some of the poor souls around him. At that point, he has not long disembarked from questioning Belfort on the latter’s luxury yacht. The stench of corruption across Wall Street is mirrored in back-hander pay-offs to corrupt cops happy to turn a blind eye. Just how tempting that might be to the investigating agent further up the chain is clearly hinted at.

From his wide-eyed entry at the bottom of the ladder as a Wall Street “connector” – a glorified telephone operator – we see Belfort falling in love with the seamy underside of the American Dream. In a fine cameo, we see Matthew McConaughey define the calmly unhinged high-end stockbroker only too happy to share his wisdom with the admiring rookie.

His advice is straightforward: “The name of the game is moving the money from the client's pocket to your pocket.”

It was something at which Belfort was to prove adept, supported by a dubious inner circle of old buddies happy to profit from his Midas touch and learn from the master. Jonah Hill gives a star turn as the goofy sidekick Donnie Azoff, arguably the only character is a debauched cast of hundreds capable of consuming even more drugs than Belfort.

Belfort exudes an almost evangelic power over his acolytes and some of the film’s best moments find him in full flow on the trading floor, psyching up the ever-growing band of traders getting obscenely rich by following his directives to the word.

A heady mixture of sex, drugs and naked avarice fuelled by oodles of cold, hard cash, The Wolf of Wall Street shows Scorsese going all out for maximum shock value, refusing to tone down his vision (hence the 18 certificate slapped on by censors) and throwing in everything from semi-naked marching bands to airborne orgies and dwarf-tossing.

At times very, very funny, the story also has its sad moments when we’re reminded just how low mankind can stoop.

Audience reaction? Lots of laughter and the odd gasp of disbelief. One man may have walked out (though that could have been a lengthy toilet break forced by the sheer length of the film). Another in my row was literally climbing all over his seat in sheer excitement and left the auditorium chuntering about how brilliant it was.

Amidst all this excess, you could probably claim that no animals were harmed in the making of the film, on the assumption that a fake goldfish was used in one particularly scene…Hector Mackenzie

In brief: Great movie with much to admire but arguably an hour too long.

The Wolf of Wall Street is being screened at Eden Court (01463 234234) until January 30 and also on now at Vue Inverness (0871 224 0240) and in Aberdeen cinemas Vue Aberdeen (0871 224 0240) and at the city's two Cineworld cinemas (0871 200 2000).