I have to confess that I feel a bit guilty for liking The Wolf of Wall Street so much. There's been some discussion among critics and bloggers and such about whether this is a film that decrys greed and excess or glamorizes it by holding it up on a platter for the audience's entertainment.
Some feminist publications have pointed out that while the film tries very, very hard to come off as edgy and outrageous (what with Leo blowing cocaine into a prostitute's rectum and all), it really just comes down to rich, white dudes making movies about rich,white dudes doing stuff that only rich, white dudes could get away with (it should be noted that Jordan Belfort, the film's...er..."protagonist"...did spend three years in prison before getting clean and rebuilding his life. A punishment, but a slap on the wrist given the insane amount of crimes he committed and people he fucked over).
My thought is that these critics are at least partially right. The Wolf of Wall Street is very much a movie that walks a fine line between simply portraying immorality and condoning it. And it sure does make immoral acts look fun and crazy!
But even if they are absolutely correct in their side-eyeing of The Wolf of Wall Street, it doesn't mean the film wasn't pretty damn entertaining. And featured hilarious and appropriately over-the-top performances by Leonardo DiCaprio as Belfort and Jonah Hill as his business partner Donnie Azoff. Because I'd be lying if I said this wasn't one of the more enjoyable times I've had at the movies this year.
But let's put aside the fact that I and everyone else who saw this movie and liked it should probably go take a bath in holy water and focus instead on the above-mentioned performances by DiCaprio and Hill. DiCaprio is pretty much a sure bet. Occasionally, he's in movies that aren't great (everyone seemed to love Shutter Island, but I felt it was a completely contrived piece of baloney), but he himself almost never gives a bad performance. He seems to shine the brightest in dark, dramatic roles where the sort of innate masculine violence he harnesses so well comes out to play. Other than Django Unchained, which is not really 100% a comedy, DiCaprio hasn't been in a lead comedic role since 2002's Catch Me If You Can. And Jordan Belfort is the funniest role he's been in to date. You may have heard about the scene where Belfort and Azoff take expired quaaludes, and I assure you, it is the funniest scene of the year, perhaps one of the funniest scenes I've ever watched. I have never scene DiCaprio in such a physically comedic role like this before. But he pulls it off beautifully.
Hill, on the other hand, is just hitting his stride. Talk about an underdog story: the pudgy, foul-mouthed kid from Superbad has already been nominated for two Best Supporting Actor Oscars (Moneyball and WoWS). His role as Azoff could have easily been the "dorky sidekick" role to DiCaprio's handsome, alpha-male Belfort, but Hill not only holds his own but actually upstages DiCaprio in some scenes. Hill has proven himself to be a very gifted comedic actor, and it's a pleasure watching this unconventional actor go head-to-head with the more typical "leading man" type of actor Leo is. Their chemistry is absolutely nuts (in a good way).
Although Wolf of Wall Street clocks in at 3 hours (and, funny story, they actually had to start the movie over from the beginning about 10-15 minutes in when I saw it because the sound was fucked up), it didn't feel overly long to me. There will be those who disagree and say the film becomes repetitive near the end. Well, even though I was in that theatre for 3.5 hours, what with the re-starting of the film and previews, I was never bored.
I will give a disclaimer that this movie can be highly offensive. Women are treated as sluts and/or trophies (Margot Robbie gives a solid performance as Belfort's second wife, Naomi, although she is definitely there to showcase what an awful family man Belfort is, rather than as a strong character in her own right). The film has scenes of homophobia, ablism, sexism, racism...and all forms of rascalism. I will also say that I personally felt that I was laughing AT these politically incorrect antics, not WITH them. However, I can totally see some viewers (dudebros) being like "right on, brother". That's their problem though, not necessarily the film's problem.
As offensive as the film is, it's never lazy in the way, say, an Adam Sandler "comedy" is. The jokes may be x-rated, but The Wolf of Wall Street isn't a dumb film. Perhaps it takes a gifted director (Scorsese) and a gifted cast to spin what could have been an absolutely toxic film and into a smart, funny film that happily exists in an amoral gray area. Shit into gold. The perfect metaphor for The Wolf of Wall Street.
5 out of 5 stars
No comments:
Post a Comment