DiCaprio’s stock rises as broker without morals
OF ALL Martin Scorsese’s films, Goodfellas is the one I have watched the most. To my mind it’s a perfect example of narrative cinema and the stylish presentation of life as a mobster is so intoxicating, you want to join them, or at least join them for dinner. That Scorsese managed to take the guilt out of organised crime with his gangster classic was a major feat 24 years ago, but trying to get brash 1990s stockbrokers off the hook with a similar treatment now is a bigger ask.
Or is it? The accusation against Scorsese is that he has glorified the debauched excesses of real-life stockbroker Jordan Belfort at a time when some are still licking their wounds after the banking crisis fall-out, or being ripped off by the likes of Bernie Madoff. But I say it’s a stupid charge as all film-makers glorify the activities of dysfunctional heroes the moment they put them on screen. It’s up to us the audience to judge them.
So enough with the moaning. Let’s celebrate a Scorsese film that gets close to being as good as Goodfellas with a performance by Leonardo DiCaprio as Belfort that will remind you why you liked him in the first place. Sorry Leo, but your heels were dragging performance-wise until this movie, which sees you enjoying the best that life can offer at the expense of others and their savings.
Dubbed the Wolf of Wall Street by Forbes magazine, Belfort amassed an unimaginable fortune (“The year I turned 26, I made 49 million dollars, which really p****d me off because it was three shy of a million a week”), while allowing his employee pals to do the same as they trawled their way through cocaine, dwarf-throwing, drinking and smashing up expensive cars. And this was when they were at work.
Jonah Hill is magnificent as Belfort’s pushy but loyal sidekick, Donnie, and there’s a stand-out cameo by Matthew McConaughey as the archetypal devil broker. It’s too long at 179 minutes. But if you like your movies high volume, funny (“He thought jiu jitsu was in Israel”), irreverent and super stylish, Scorsese has made one just for you.