[7]

Martin Scorsese remakes Casino, only instead of the Las Vegas gambling backdrop, we now have the shady thievery of Wall Street. Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Jordan Belfort in this true story of Belfort’s rise to highly successful stock-broker and his fall into federal crimes and drug use. The Wolf of Wall Street is three hours long, but it moves briskly and is never boring. The absurdity of the super-rich is on full-display here, from midget-tossing at the office party to wrecking the mega-yacht in a storm at sea. Like Casino, the backbone of the film is a bromance, here between DiCaprio’s character and his right-hand man, played by Jonah Hill. The best sequence in the movie is one where they down too many quaaludes and lose control of all their motor skills. Belfort’s life is darkly comic and ultimately tragic. You may feel both jealousy and pity for him. Supporting players include Margot Robbie, Matthew McConaughey, Rob Reiner, Jon Favreau, Jean Dujardin, and Joanna Lumley.

Oscar Nominations: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Leonardo DiCaprio), Best Supporting Actor (Jonah Hill), Best Adapted Screenplay