My husband and I just got back from seeing this movie at the Odeon and at 180 minutes, this Martin Scorsese movie is a long film, take sandwiches :)
IMDB says: Based on the true story of Jordan Belfort, from his rise to a wealthy stockbroker living the high life to his fall involving crime, corruption and the federal government.
Oscar-nominated Leonardo DiCaprio (The Great Gatsby, Catch Me If You Can) stars as Belfort who goes from humble beginnings dreaming of life as a stockbroker to a self-made businessman who gets rich from selling cheap stocks to working-class people. Influenced by his Wall Street mentor Mark Hanna played by a hysterical Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club, Mud), when his first day as a licensed stockbroker coincides with the Wall Street Crash, he goes into business by himself. Joined by friend Donnie Azoff, a schmuck-y Jonah Hill (Super Bad, 21 Jump Street), he soon begins to rake it in with a killer script to part the ordinary man from his money and mainline it straight into his accounts.
With many scenes of the debauchery of his hedonistic lifestyle (particularly the drugs and sex), it is hard to like the character, but somehow, when it becomes obvious that the FBI are coming to take it all away, you begin to root for him. DiCaprio excels in his role as the antihero and though you should be willing for his comeuppance to hit him hard, when Agent Patrick Denham (Kyle Chandler, Friday Night Lights, Zero Dark Thirty) begins to snap at his heels, you are waiting for the angle that he will use to wriggle out of it all.
You know the minute he leaves his first wife for the gold-digging Naomi (Margot Robbie, About Time, Pan Am), it is clear this is the start of the downward fall, but you almost forgive her for having the absolutely fabulous Joanna Lumley (Absolutely Fabulous, The New Avengers) as her Aunt Emma.
For me, Matthew McConaughey steals the movie, but DiCaprio is an antihero who shines a light on the lengths some people will go to for money.
A close-up portrait of the capitalist culture today. 9/10
It may go on a tad long, but it was always a fun watch, no matter what it was that Scorsese or DiCaprio were doing. Good review Karen.
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