The Wolf of Wall Street

Leonardo DiCaprio seems to be drawn to movies about excess. And excess is the name of the game in The Wolf of Wall Street.

Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) begins his career working for the shady Mark Hanna (Mathew McConaughey). Belfort loses his job after the firm he works at fails on Black Monday (which is something I'm guessing people in economics will know about). His wife Teresa (Cristin Milioti) encourages him to get a job at boiler room outfit that sells penny stocks, run by Dwayne (Spike Jonze). Once Belfort realises that he can make a higher commission selling these stocks, he begins to accrue wealth and begins a company with Donny Azoff (Jonah Hill), where the two embark on a lifestyle of excess and debauchery. This behaviour grabs the attention of FBI Agent Patrick Denham (Kyle Chandler), who begins to investigate him for a number of financial frauds.

The film is fantastically hilarious from beginning to end. Leo once again proves he is one of the greatest actors of his generation and that he can also be comedic. The film runs for 179 minutes and by the end I did start to feel the effects of that length of time. Although it's a gripping film, I felt as though it ran twenty minutes too long.

Leo's performance is fantastic and he has a great chemistry with the rest of the cast, especially Margot Robbie, who plays his second wife, and Rob Reiner, who plays his father. Robbie is insanely good in this film and I can't imagine how hard it is for an Aussie to pull of a Long Island accent like that or for such a long time.

Jonah Hill also shows that he has game as a serious actor. I know he's been trying for a while and he really breaks through with this film, whilst still drawing on his talents as a comedian. Jon Bernthal is someone who I've had a hard time getting behind (mainly for his role of Shane on The Walking Dead), but his talent playing for playing the scumbag is well utilised in this film. Also the Spike Jonze cameo just made me laugh.

Verdict: Martin Scorsese crafts a wonderful piece of art about the excesses of the Wall Street rich whilst being devilishly funny and accurate. Bonus points for the hilarious joke about cerebral palsy (which I laughed at harder than anyone in the cinema).