Review: The Wolf of Wall Street

Starring - Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie
Written by Terence Winter
Directed by Martin Scorsese

It's rather depressing that in interviews promoting his latest collaboration with Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio felt the need to explain that they are critiquing the attitude of Jordan Belfort rather than endorsing it. Short of appearing onscreen and delivering a lecture on the morality of stockbroking, it's hard to see how Scorsese could make this any clearer, but apparently certain critics refuse to get the point.

In their defence, DiCaprio brings a great deal of charm to his layered performance as Belfort, cleverly showing his development from eager to please 'pond scum' (to quote his first employer) to dizzying success. However, the film takes every opportunity to knock him down, whether it be his eleven-second long first encounter with his future wife or his pathetic attempts to terminate an incriminating phone call between his friend Donnie Azoff (Jonah Hill) and a Swiss banker.

Despite a long running time, Scorsese ensures that the film never sags. Though the tone varies wildly, it mostly does so very effectively, though just occasionally the humour falls flat due to the more serious events going on at the same time

For the most part, however, this is a film with all the confidence of (but significantly more morals than) its lead character. It is, of course, absurdly early to start talking about the best films of 2014, but The Wolf of Wall Street has set the bar high. Greed may not be good, but it can make for some great films.