THE WOLF OF WALL STREET ("SALESMAN OF THE YEAR")

January 3, 2014.

Cast: Leonardo Di caprio, Jonah Hill, P.J Byrne, Jon Favreau, Mathew Mccaunaghey.

Director: Martin Scorcese.

“Sell me this pen”, this is what Jordan Belfort asks each of his initial team members to do if he should select them. This one scene sets the tone of the film so beautifully; courtesy the outstanding writing and direction.

Jordan Belfort (Dicaprio) starts off as a rookie stockbroker taken under the wings of Mark Hanna (Mccaunaghey). With no beating around the bush Hanna gives Belfort a clear picture of the life that he should be willing to lead filled with sleaze, cheating and drugs, if he wants to make it big in Wall street. But soon afterwards Wall Street crashes and Belfort is forced to join a third grade stockbroking firm that deals only in Penny Stocks. That becomes the turning point in Belfort’s life when he is shown an innovative way to cheat customers without them having a clue about it  yet making it all look legal and convincing. Donnie (Jonah Hill) joins him shortly when they bump into each other in the food stall where Donnie works and there starts a long time partnership of fraud, drugs, obscenity and money!

Terence Winter has a written a top class screenplay, taken of course from Jordan Belfort’s autobiography, fictionalising things wherever required. But right from the start the screenplay does not have any qualms in the kind of language or actions that it contains. It is highly relieving that the CBFC has not edited any of the scenes, except for the explicit physical content, may be because of the reason that 90% of the film would have been required to be censored that way.

It is an intoxicating mixture of lack of control, drug abuse, verbal abuse and some really good humor. There are particularly two to three scenes that stand out from the rest due to the sheer acting prowess of Dicaprio, and freshness and natural humor of the situations; the first one is when Belfort makes the first call from Stratton Oakmont teaching the others how to manipulate a client; the second is the scene where he repeatedly gets splashed with water on his face by his wife; and the last is when the “Lemmon 714 effect” comes forth rather lately than expected by Belfort and Donnie. The second one may be voted the best among the three because of the way Dicaprio portrays a man quite different from the roles he has done so far.

Jonah Hill has done quite a mature character, though it has a mild resemblance to the kind of characters he generally plays. His combination scenes with Dicaprio are truly magical especially the “Lemmon 714 effect” scene. This is undoubtedly his best role till date and he has used the opportunity given to him so fabulously well. The other characters in the film are equally good and make up Jordan Belfort’s team really well.

Wolf is an adventurous ride filled with a lot of emotions and a film of this stature was pending for quite sometime from the Scorcese stable. But ultimately Wolf belongs to Leonardo Dicaprio. This may very well bring him the elusive Oscar!!!

I am giving a 4 for The Wolf of Wall Street. Sell me this pen!!

IMDB Rating

Rating Scale (Out of 5)

Less than 2                   -           Unwatchable.

2    to 2.25                   -           Below average.

2.5 to 2.75                   -           Average.
       
3    to 3.25                   -           Good.

3.5 to 3.75                   -           Really Good.

4    to 4.25                   -           Great.


4.5 and above               -          Extraordinary.