GENRE: Black Comedy
RUNNING TIME: 2 hours 59 minutes
STARRING: Leonardo DiCaprio (The Great Gatsby), Jonah Hill (21 Jump Street), Margot Robbie (About Time), Matthew McConaughey (The Lincoln Lawyer), and Jean Dujardin (The Artist)
DIRECTED BY: Martin Scorsese (The Departed)
RATING: 8/10
Currently screening at Ster-Kinekor Northgate.
PLOT: Based on a true story, Jordan Belfort (DiCaprio) enters the world of Wall Street as a stock broker. He is shocked by the drug culture and lessons he receives from his new boss Mark Hanna (McConaughey) about how to make money. But soon he fits right in, that is until he loses his job after Black Monday, 19 October 1987, when stock markets around the world crashed.
He then becomes a penny stocks broker, joined by Donnie Azoff (Hill) who is attracted to Belfort’s extravagant spending. Together they recruit Belfort’s friends who are “salesmen” and open Stratton Oakmont, a firm that becomes a high-ranking, billion-dollar company. However, not all of their business practices are legal and their spending attracts the wrong attention. How long can Belfort keep up his unorthodox business practices and cocaine snorting, pill-popping lifestyle without the consequences catching up with him?
THE GOOD: The parties, lewdness and debauchery were shot in such an artistic way that all of it became desirable and enviable to even the most moral of people. The musical score heightens the pace and comedic appeal of the movie, while the performances are Oscar-worthy. The narration and documentary shooting-style makes light of very heavy content, ensuring the movie never gets preachy or boring in the length of time it takes to tell the story.
THE BAD: The are too many highs and very little lows, which takes away from whatever lesson the movie might have been trying to teach. This also led to the character’s development being limited and rushed. Belfort’s illegal business dealings and the effects on his victims is not brought in convincingly. It is almost glamorised and side-lined.
As with all adaptations, those who have read the book will find the screenwriter (Terence Winter) and director did not stick to the exact story in the book. Rather they chose their own angle and parts of the story that worked for the movie.
VERDICT: This movie is very long, but the pace is so fast and consistent that one barely notices the time. The lesson is a little unclear, but the entertainment value is very high and the director and actors outdid themselves in keeping the audience’s attention. It is a great movie to kick off your 2014 movie-going experience.
Thanks to Ster-Kinekor Northgate for making the review possible.
