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.
It’s refreshing, if a little surprising, to see such a distinguished director taking such a crude and irreverent approach.
So many directors have built a career from ripping off Scorsese; it's hard to begrudge Scorsese wanting a piece of the pie. He gives us a film that is polished and punchy, chock-full of beans and throwing out sparks. He's enjoying himself and the fun is infectious.
Despite the US censors trimming back the screwing and swearing, this is an audacious, riotous epic. Scorsese and DiCaprio’s fifth and best pairing, it’s liable to give the Academy a heart attack.
More than simple fun, this is perhaps the best Scorsese film since Goodfellas.
Scorsese's funniest and most focused film in a long time, a jet-black sex and drug-soaked comedy featuring a bravura performance by Leonardo DiCaprio.
As you watch a numbed man lose all his basic motor skills to a big chemical rush, you can’t help feeling that The Wolf Of Wall Street also needed to cut back on the meds.
Verdict: Memorable, morally flawed biopic.
The Wolf of Wall Street ends up feeling like a penny stock that’s been over-valued.
The star hoovers up every scene as hungrily as Belfort consumes cocaine, charging from one crazy episode to the next. It's a tour de force.
Although DiCaprio and Jonah Hill play their conniving personas with fatuous tenacity, what’s most striking (and depressingly so) is how the law favours the wealthy – not the victims.
Like its central character, The Wolf of Wall Street is too busy reveling in excess to consider the moral complexities with any depth.
In the same way that the violence in Scorsese's gangster films becomes sickening, so too does the misanthropy, misogyny and naked self-interest in this one. If you find yourself enjoying it too much, you either already work in cut-throat finance or should probably consider a career move.
The Wolf of Wall Street does not quite have the subtlety and richness of Scorsese's very best work, but what an incredibly exhilarating film: a deafening and sustained howl of depravity.
By the time the real Belfort gets a final-reel cameo, introducing his alter ego on stage as the now-reborn "world's greatest sales trainer!", you can't help but wish that Joe Pesci had been on hand to ask them all if they thought he was funny.
Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street: Where bankers are the new gangsters
Jordan Belfort: The real Wolf of Wall Street
Nothing succeeds like excess: The Wolf of Wall Street tells the story of Jordan Belfort
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'Not sure if view of bankers can sink any lower'
General release. Check local listings for show times.