Mickster Movie Review - "The Wolf of Wall Street" (2013) ***1/2

     Well, that was interesting to say the least.  The Wolf of Wall Street has been the talk of theaters for several months, and not all of it in a good way. While the film has received lots of critical praise, it has received it's fair share of criticism due to the profanity, nudity, and drug usage in the film. I can confirm, it has LOTS of all that. Stories of people walking out of theaters and demanding their money back make more sense to me now, but still, it is rated R so I'm not sure all the "shock" is genuine or warranted. While there are a lot of things here that will make a mechanic blush, underneath is actually an interesting story and I can certainly understand where the praise is coming from.

    Wolf is based on the true story of Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio), who rose from nothing to become a big time stockbroker, only to fall and serve time in prison for defrauding investors. Belfort's first day on the job ends up being October 19, 1987, or "Black Monday" as it's better known, when the stock market crashed. He was out of a job before he ever got started. After considering leaving the business he ends up back with a small company who sells penny stocks. He is obviously a better salesman than any of his coworkers and amazes them all by making a huge sale on his first day. He quickly rises back up and figures that he needs to go into business for himself. He befriends Donnie Azoff (Jonah Hill), and along with a group of friends, Belfort starts his own company- Stratton Oakmont. Before long the company is making tons of money and Belfort rises up the ranks in the business world. But with success came a party atmosphere loaded with constant drug use, prostitution and unethical business practices, all of which would lead to attention from the FBI, especially agent Patrick Denham (Kyle Chandler). As the FBI closes in, Belfort rubs his fortune in their face. His pride ultimately leads to his downfall.

     Director Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio have become a bit of a sure thing in Hollywood. The two have collaborated on five films now, most notably The Departed, which won Best Picture at the Oscars. I don't think this is their best film together, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. It's not without flaws though. It is very lewd for much of the film and flirts with an NC-17 rating. It's not that I minded that, but there's just SO much of it. After awhile it seemed like there were scenes thrown in just to see how much they could push the envelope. This leads me to my biggest gripe with the film, the running time. This movie is 3 hours looooooong. I don't mind long movies mind you, but sometimes they are just simply unnecessary. This film could have cut a solid hour out of it and you could tell the same story. That's what I mean about the lewd scenes being thrown in, it just seems like Scorsese was trying to get as much in as he could. It's unnecessary though and drags the movie down in the middle parts. Had this movie but much shorter I feel there is 4 1/2 star potential there. But that should not distract you from seeing it, I still give it a solid recommend. Be wary of the content going in, but as long as you are not easily offended, there is a lot of interesting story here. There's just too much of it.

Mickster