Wow !!! It simply does not get any worse than this. I know Scorsese was just doing his dark humor thing: glamorize and satirize the bad guy – which he so masterfully 


accomplished with Henry Hill and the mafia with ‘Good Fellas’. However, Martin Scorsese released an absolute mess with his loosely – based biopic (same dark humor style) about the Wall Street tycoon, Jordan Belfort (Yep, the movie ‘The Boiler Room’ was also loosely based on Jordan Belfort), in ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’. Martin Scorsese is a pint – sized 71 year old grown man who vicariously has had the amazing good fortune to make his want to – be, alter – ego come true on the big screen – you know what I’m talking about: small but powerful, handsome, ambitious, unspeakably rich, utterly fearless, misogynistic (why the marginalization of women ???) adolescent via commercial feature filmmaking. Martin Scorsese is a brilliant man who I suspect despises the fact that he is and has always been a frail, small man who could never, ever be in real life one of his anti – heroes for whom I truly believe he has this secret admiration and hence lives in his make – believe world of cinema. Marty sadly but perhaps fortuitously suffered from asthma as a child (Marty could never play with his friends and spent his childhood watching film – a curse and a blessing). Scorsese has always loved the rebels, and I earnestly suspect that he wanted to be one of those “bad guys. “Well, given his prodigious popularity in the make believe cinema world in which he now lives and with which he grew up, too sick to be a ‘wise guy’ (while his peers lived in the real world)… he can now be whomever he wants – that handsome, rich, powerful guy with the beautiful blonde by his side. Whatever the motivation behind any Martin Scorsese motion picture, one has to agree that he is a lover of film, unspeakably talented, a genius, and perhaps one of the greatest directors of our time, but, well, this movie was a bomb.
Okay to spin this movie in a positive light, one can say that, as outright ugly and disturbing as this film was, what Scorsese wanted to portray was a modern day Caligula, no holds barred. I suppose that on some level you can say that Wall Street seen in this picture is a microcosm of the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. This is hedonism on steroids… debauchery to a nauseating degree (FOR 3 HOURS, how much can a person take watching 20 something millionaires doing drugs and having sex – BORING & STUPIDLY OVER THE TOP.
The motion picture begins with a make – believe commercial (now Marty is a ruthless Wall St. mogul instead of a Joe Pesci mafia hit man) and then quickly switches to a dwarf – tossing contest led by Martin’s new cinema darling, Leonardo Dicaprio (yep, Robert De Niro , you’ve been bumped). I personally could not believe my eyes … a brilliant film scholar and genius in Martin Scorsese, in some way giving validation suggesting that it’s funny or cool to throw around little people for money (Ummm, excuse me Mr. Scorsese, the Faustian Howard Stern already owns this domain). Well, hold on, I say… Martin Scorsese is short & maybe this is just satire and maybe this really happened (though Jordan Belfort claims it’s all B.S.) – right ? Ummm, hang on, the very next shot is Jordan (you know that’s Scorsese) snorting cocaine from a beautiful blonde woman’s rectum –– way over the top !!! I should have turned it off there, but I endured the whole 3 hours of Fu#@ing, drugs, and 20 something year olds behaving unspeakably badly and with way too much $$$ -UGGGGGH
Okay – fine, show the partying and excess, but for 3 HOURS and nothing else??? I mean, you may as well have watched, ‘Animal House’ – same stuff, only with a yacht and a lot of money. Hey and by the way, that Quaalude scene was as absurd as it gets (not true, and not funny). The movie in a nutshell is ‘Good Fellas’ (I mean DiCaprio’s voiceover sounded exactly like Ray Liotta’s, but on Wall Street) on super – charged drugs without any depth of character, plot, consequences, etc.
Yes, there were some powerful, gripping, profound and moving scenes (it is Marty after all, not unlike Woody, even the turkeys have @ least a scene or 2) but my question to Martin Scorsese, is why not touch on the repercussions of crazy behavior and excess; and why not dig deeper into the characters ?
So WhaDaYaThink ? What do you think ? I, personally, being a Scorsese fan, was offended and appalled by this piece of garbage of a movie. The films to watch are : 1. ‘Good Fellas’ 2. ‘Raging Bull’ 3. ‘Aviator’ 4. ‘Cape Fear’ 5.’ Taxi Driver’ 6. ‘The King of Comedy’ 7.’ After Hours’ & 8. ‘The Departed’ … ummm 8 films, not bad – lol….but don’t waste your time and $$$ on this one.
Btw, much to my dismay, a lot of the appalling stuff seen in the picture actually happened – it did??? (though, I personally don’t believe most of it) and if you YouTube Jordan Belfort, it is disturbing beyond comprehension, that such a less than intelligent person in Mr. Belfort could actually steal that much $$$ from real, legitimate businessmen.
Oh, and here is another FYI, though the motion picture was ultimately a success – grossing thus far over $389 million dollars on a $100 million dollar budget (aren’t those #’s in terms of $$ absolutely disturbing???) some folks who actually paid the $10 to see the movie when it was initially released, walked out and demanded a refund. I applaud those people and I want my time and money back too. Martin Scorsese is a 71 year old little boy who never grew up (literally and figuratively – lol) and never will!!! I would love to get your thoughts.