My Favorite Movies of 2013: The Wolf of Wall Street (SPOILERS)

It was during my second viewing of Martin Scorsese's new film The Wolf of Wall Street that I caught myself rooting for Jordan Belmont. It was during the part of the film where he had a SEC deal on the table. It meant he would no longer be head of the company he started, and he would have some fines, but he'd get to keep his money, and avoid criminal prosecution. In other words, he was getting off light after committing various forms of financial fraud. Yep, I found myself rooting for a drugged-out philanderer to take the safe play and retire gracefully, effectively beating the system. I can't say I felt too good about that.



Fortunately, I'm pretty certain one of the purposes of the film is to get you to this point of self-reflection. Namely, are we complicit in the creation and success of con-men and criminals like Jordan Belfort? Even though he is eventually arrested and sent to prison, by the end the audience at his salesmanship seminar is still rapt with attention at his words, and he is still rich. Meanwhile, the FBI agent that busted him is still riding the subway, earning a salary that is far less than what he deserves.

Because the movie makes you ask questions of yourself, and whether or not it is good that assholes seem to win, even win they lose, it prevents the film from being a straight-up glorification of the greed, excess, misogyny, and vulgarity on display. Simply put, this is not a staid and subdued film.

It's this over the top nature that makes this much more than a glorification of the awful behavior in the film. For most of the three hour run time, it is nothing but booze, drugs, sex, and masculine ridiculousness. At one point, there is even a chimpanzee assisting the handing out of paychecks. At the time the primate shows up, it's an open question whether or not he has competition for the most primitive primate on the scene. There are times where you can almost smell the testosterone wafting from the screen in the theater. It's almost always ridiculous, frequently awful and disgusting, and perpetually hilarious.

Above all, Jonah Hill's Donnie Azoff is ridiculous, often awful and disgusting, and downright hilarious. Whether it's his aspirations to being a WASP, his erratic management style, or his terrible behavior while under the influence, it's a brilliant performance from Hill. There was some question if he deserved the nomination for Moneyball. He certainly deserves a nomination, if not the Oscar, for this performance. It's very difficult to describe his performance (beyond the first sentence of this paragraph), you just have to watch the movie to believe it.

Hill's performance isn't the only great one in the film. Leonardo DiCaprio's performance as Belmont is arguably his best performance. He is both charismatic and repugnant as we watch his rise and fall (and rise again). The way he slowly starts falling apart due to the excessive drug use is a thing to see.

Of course, the best scene of the film shows off both Hill and DiCaprio's ability as actors, particularly as physical actors. I am, of course, talking about the Lemmon 714 Quaalude scene. Before I saw the film, I had heard about this scene, but only that it involved Quaaludes. There are two other scenes involving Quaaludes and problematic behavior. After both I thought "what exactly was the big deal?" Turns out those were just preludes to the real scene. I'm not going to even try to describe it, as it is just something that needs to be experienced.

Beyond Hill and DiCaprio, there are plenty of other great performances as well. My favorites were Margot Robbie as Jordan's second wife Naomi, Kyle Chandler as FBI agent Patrick Denham, and Rob Reiner as Jordan's father. Although only having one major scene, Matthew McConaughey makes the most of it*.

Of course, the rest of the film is stellar, as would be expected given it's a Scorsese film. The music choices are superb, the camera work is great, and the scenes are well developed. Despite the movie being longer than American Hustle by almost an hour, it felt much faster.

Going back to the beginning of this piece, Jordan ends up backing out the SEC deal.  He announces this to his team of co-conspirators by a speech that is the centerpiece of the film, ending with a celebration by the company (Rob Reiner  excepted) dancing around as if they were possessed by religious fervor. At that point, Stratton Oakmont felt less like a company and more like a cult. It was a pitch perfect transition from the rise of the first half of the film, to the fall (such as it is) in the second half.

I don't blame you if you watch this film and get caught up in this scene. I don't blame you if you think they all should be taken down, and the company burnt to the ground. The only thing I hope you do is at some point sit back and wonder exactly why you are thinking the way you are, and if this is what you would prefer thinking. The answers you come up with may not be what you expected, or what you'd prefer.

*The revitalization of McConaughey's career is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, entertainment story of the year, right?