Last night, Larry & I joined up with a bunch of friends from work to go see Wolf of Wall Street at the Universal City AMC – at 9pm. That’s the latest I’ve seen a movie in a LONG time. Yes, apparently I’m old now too. I guess we’re not old enough though as we were able to make it through the entire movie, not even leaving to go to the bathroom!
You know why that was the case though? Wolf of Wall Street is an extremely compelling movie. It’s the story of Jordan Belfort, who started out in the stock market business ambitious yet idealistic but quickly got corrupted. His supreme ambitions were put to use after the crash of October 1987 when he bounced back by selling “penny stocks” to none-the-wiser clients. The commission on those is basically 50% versus something like 1% in regular stocks, so as you can see, if you can get a client to buy the penny stocks, you’re already making a huge profit no matter how the stocks do. Rinse and repeat. (My mom assures me that these kinds of commissions were made illegal in the 90s because DUH). Before you know it, Jordan has his own brokerage, Stratton Oakmont, and lives the crazy life, which you see plenty of: sex (lots of sex), drugs (all the drugs), and partying like a rock star.
You can’t help but get caught up in his story while also recognizing that he is truly a piece of shit person. The ultimate desire for more money no matter who was going to be screwed seems like an apt description of the entire stock market industry, even if it makes you a little queasy to realize that. Is there a comeuppance? Yeah, kinda. But like another Martin Scorsese picture, Goodfellas, it’s not quite what you expect or hope for at the end.
It’s a very entertaining movie though, but if you’re a “sensitive type” you’re probably going to have to prepare yourself, as there is a lot of swearing (a lot! But you get numb to it after a while) and the nudity and drug use is explicit. Explicit. Also? It’s super fucking funny, from Matthew McConaughey’s hilarious cameo in the beginning to the INSANE scene where some really old quaaludes cause some serious shit for Leonardo DiCaprio. Despite the movie being 3 hours long, it’s an extremely compelling, enjoyable and voyeuristic look into a life I frankly don’t think many of us could possibly understand or even want.