Picture this: A young ambitious chap is introduced to the big bad world of money, sex, drugs, and crime, becomes enamoured, becomes good at his job, becomes lost, is chased, gets caught, with lots and lots of drugs, alcohol, some cringe-worthy almost-sex, swear words (not enough guns though), acting tough, acting cool, and then some, and some more, and again some. Eventually, predictably as hell, it all comes down, and the ‘hero’ loses everything and is cut down to size, with the moral message being: ‘There are no shortcuts to success.’
Now, where have we seen that before?
Take a good dose of ‘Casino’, mix ‘Goodfellas’, shake with ‘Scarface’, top up with some ‘American Gangster’, throw in a bit of the original ‘Wall Street’, garnish with ‘Untouchables’, and serve in a 3-hour, mind-numbing, eardrum-bursting, roller-coasting, stereotyping, curse-fest, say, ‘Based on a true story’ on the menu, and watch the money roll in.
Wolf of Wall Street: Been there, done that. To death. Did not enjoy it. From a storytelling perspective, neither good nor bad, probably because we’ve seen it a dozen times before. That said, the (possibly only one I enjoyed) scene in which Mathew McConaughey and Leonardo DiCaprio have lunch is bloody priceless.
In fact, after the first about 30 minutes, you can leave the movie. It’s that predictable. And sometimes labours a point for so long that you get a feeling that Martin Scorsese probably thinks too low of his audience. In a word: disappointed!
For those who want to know if it ‘really’ happened, the answer is yes. Most of this really happens. All the time. I know. Just ask me. I have seen many Hollywood movies. I am an expert.
