The Wolf of Wall Street Preview

The Wolf of Wall Street stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jordan Belfort, a Long Island stock broker who served 3 years in prison for his part in defrauding investors in a securities scam in the 1990s. The Wolf of Wall Street is nominated for five Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor (DiCaprio), Best Supporting Actor (Jonah Hill), Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Director (Martin Scorsese).  This is DiCaprio's fourth acting Oscar nomination.  This is Scorsese's ninth nomination.  He won the Oscar for his direction of the 2006 movie The Departed, which was another all-star ensemble cast including DiCaprio.  This would be the fifth time Scorsese and DiCaprio have teamed up for a blockbuster hit.

Jordan Belfort began working on Wall Street when he was 22 years old.  His first day with a broker's license was tragically October 19, 1987, also known as Black Monday, when the world's stocks plummeted and Belfort lost his job.  Desperate for work, he finds success for a firm called Investor Center.  With his newly acquired wealth and a few of his friends, he leases out an empty garage and starts his own firm, Stratton-Oakmont.  Their continued success gains the attention of the financial world and the FBI.  Forbes magazine dubbed Belfort as the "Wolf of Wall Street". His goal was to make more money than he and his friends knew what to do with.  Throwing lavish parties and spending ridiculous amounts of money, not only were Belfort's trading practices shady and illegal, so were his methods of hiding his money from the federal government.  His world of family, friends, parties and drugs eventually come crashing down around him. 

From the preview, this looks like another huge success for the DiCaprio and Scorsese team.  The Wolf of Wall Street boasts a cast of stars including Matthew McConaughey, Kyle Chandler, Rob Reiner, Jon Favreau, and even a cameo from the real Jordan Belfort.  The film looks disturbingly hilarious.  What I mean by that is that the performances, the writing, even the plot will make you laugh, until you pause for a second to realize this actually happened.  For Belfort, it didn't matter if his clients made money, only that he did through any means possible.  Those of you who know me, know I'm not the biggest DiCaprio fan, though I am a fan of nearly all the films he's been a part of.  This looks like it will be no exception.  I looks like an unsettling, sad, and funny look into the dark side of Wall Street with great direction and star-studded contributions from Hollywood's who's who.  I predict a wild entertaining ride, though a long ride as this film is just shy of three hours long.  I'm predicting a 4 star rating which means this should be well worth the money in the theatres, something I'd watch again, and has a decent chance of making it to my home video collection.  Am I right?  We shall see.