The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) Review: Still Great 10 Years Later

While not quite at the same level as Martin Scorsese’s masterpieces, The Wolf of Wall Street is certainly his funniest and most outrageous film.

Based on Jordan Belfort’s 2007 memoir of the same name, the story revolves around Leonardo DiCaprio’s character Jordan Belfort, an audacious, cunning, and highlife man who quickly rises over the crowded desks of a Wall Street brokerage firm to start his own firm together with his trusted lieutenant, the hilariously deplorable Jonah Hill and a merry band of hoodlum brokers.

This money-depraved menagerie makes a fortune defrauding wealthy investors out of millions. However, while DiCaprio’s character and his cronies ravel in a hedonistic life of sex, drugs, and thrills, various security forces close in on his empire of excess.

The film starts like most of Scorsese’s often do; a voice-over through a sequence of mini and freeze frames. Of course, Scorsese from the onset, throws morals to the wind as we open to DiCaprio sniffing cocaine off a naked woman’s butt.

And while not appearing on the screen, the director makes a cameo appearance in voiceovers. Fast into the opening sequence, we are introduced to the usual Scorsese leading lady – blonde, ethereal, wearing white, and of course, the shot is in slow motion, an obvious nod to director Alfred Hitchcock.

In this film, the leading lady is Margot Robbie and she’s as flawlessly gorgeous as only Margot Robbie can be. The director opts for a nonlinear plot structure, starting us off at the peak of DiCaprio’s wealth, greed, and debauchery before seamlessly slipping us off to a more linear narrative.

Mathew McConaughey is barely in this film for five minutes but damn, he is so cool and suave and plays his character with such swagger you wish the director would have kept him much longer.

DiCaprio has got so many great roles under his belt, but at this point in his career, I doubt he would ever outdo the sleazy and narcissistic Jordan Belfort.

Jonah Hill definitely played the role of his career, and his odd humor alongside the chemistry he has with DiCaprio is what carries this film. Margot Robbie in her breakout role is breathtaking.Though I feel like her a little too much nudity might have shadowed her performance a bit.

And the pacing is pretty good for a film nearly 3 hours long. Never a dull moment.