Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Year: 2013
Rating: 4/10
Martin Scorsese is one of the greatest directors of all-time. Few people would disagree, and among this group, a relatively small amount have fully explored his extensive filmography. Which I think is perfectly understandable. I can't say that happened here with me, but I can understand how sometimes you're left with a poor first impression. What I can say, however, is that if this were the first film of his that I'd seen, I would have a hard time returning for more.
People are frequently citing this film as a return to form for Scorsese -- a comment I would have to agree with. Anyone hoping for a traditional Scorsese film will pretty much get what they want out of this movie. It contains all the signatures of his work: voice-over narration, tracking shots, an extremely large cast, bloated soundtrack, etc. The only problem being, this time, none of these elements feel original, well-utilized, or even necessarily welcome. In almost every way, this movie shares the same story arc and narrative style of Goodfellas, following Jordan Belfort from his roots as he narrates his way through his rise into the life he had always dreamt of, losing himself in his pursuit of the American dream, which is then followed shortly by the third-act downfall that puts his personal and business life in danger, etc etc etc. I don't want to give anything away, but if you're familiar with movies, you've seen this story played out before -- which is usually fine, but seeing how this is a crime film directed by Martin Scorsese himself, one begins to wonder why exactly it even needs to exist.
As previously stated this film feels very much like a flimsy rehash of Goodfellas, only this time with characters less fleshed-out and developed than Jimmy Two-Times, filling out bland caricaturized roles that serve only as a means to demonstrate the excesses of their lifestyle. Believe me, this makes it sound far better than it actually is. By the end of the movie, we know no more about these characters than we did within the first 5 minutes of their time on-screen. In 3 hours, all we learn about Jordan Belfort is that he A) likes money, B) likes sex, and C) likes drugs. The script doesn't allow for more development than that, we're just left to assume there is more going on beneath the surface, but never given any indication of that being the case.
Not only does the script do nothing to develop or utilize its characters in any other way than to drive in the symbolism of its message, it also follows every familiar story arc, never deviating from the conventional to surprise the audience even remotely. The three-act structure is on full display here, with all of its gaps filled with an excess of excesses. The movie tries to pass itself off as satire, but only satirizes its subject in the vaguest ways possible, glorifying and exploiting the brand of humor it pretends to be condemning. Very much reminiscent of the works of Seth MacFarlane (or other low-brow "comedians"), this film seems to think crudeness is somehow inherently funny and an adequate substitute for anything clever. Every "joke" in this movie is of the lowest pedigree, and ultimately boils down to how funny you find masturbation, f-bombs, and people having sex in public. For a small period of time it's tolerable, but after a while it really begins to drag. By the 1-hour mark I was watching the clock more than the movie.
Leonardo DiCaprio (who I am, admittedly, less-than-impressed by as an actor) demostrates slightly more range here than usual, but still finds himself falling into the rut of basically doing what the rest of this movie does, consistently reminding you of past works from the people involved that are far more effective. As a character, Jordan Belfort is basically a coked-out, sexed-up incarnation of Frank Abagnale - his character from Catch Me If You Can - which actually could have served as excellent contrast to show how he has developed and matured as a performer, but sadly does no such thing. Many people seem to be calling this DiCaprio's strongest performance, and while I will never see that title as very significant praise, I would still have to strongly disagree. Ultimately, all I could see was DiCaprio playing himself, only slightly out of his comfort zone. To me, the real show-stealer here is Jonah Hill, who manages to escape so much into his (sadly undeveloped) role to the point where I often found myself forgetting that he was Jonah Hill. A strong performance, no doubt, but not enough to elevate the weak material he was given and was surrounding him at all sides.
Poorly-developed, sluggishly-paced, chock full of low-brow "satire", and every single formulaic thematic element you could possible expect to see. I didn't like it. I didn't think it was clever, unique, funny, or insightful. To me, this movie didn't even need to exist.
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