Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on February 2014

I think “excess” is the motif here. Martin Scorsese’s film chronicles the rise and fall of high-finance low-life Jordan Belfort, who, through fraud and bullying sales tactics, built one of the largest trading houses in the country. He and his vulgar cadre of badly behaving brokers (notably sidekick Jonah Hill) celebrated each success with frat-rat mentality, invariably involving mountains of blow and armies of hookers. An extended feature about these degenerates would be unwatchable. So Scorsese has brilliantly flipped it into a rare, for him, flat-out comedy (of excess, natch) and pulled out all the stops. Leonardo DiCaprio stars as the swinging-dick anti-hero in an unchained, balls-to-the-wall portrayal that may be a career best. Kind of like a Gordon Gekko but, you know, funny. There’s a lot going on, all the time. Excess, remember? But it fairly spits with energy and is never dull. Depressing, exhausting, and maybe too much of a bad thing, but not dull. My only criticism is the same I had of Sofia Coppola’s The Bling Ring. While these true stories and twisted characters are diverting for a while, three hours is a long time to spend in the company of such douchebags. Made me want to take a shower. (180 min)