By Chris Snellgrove
| Updated
It wasn’t that long ago that Martin Scorsese set Hollywood on fire thanks to everything from Leonardo DiCaprio’s inspired performance and Margot Robbie’s career-making, no-holds-barred performance. If you’d like to experience their Academy Award-nominated raunchy dramedy for yourself, then it’s time to stop doomscrolling r/wallstreetbets and stream The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) on Netflix.
Sex, Drugs, And Stock’n Roll
The premise of The Wolf of Wall Street is that young Jordan Belfort discovers he is exceptionally skilled at selling stocks, eventually leveraging his talents to open his own stock brokerage firm. Unfortunately, he and his cronies are all corrupt, enriching themselves with pump and dump schemes while trying to dodge the downright inevitable legal trouble. Eventually, Belfort lands in the crosshairs of the FBI, and he must pull out all the stops to keep his life of sex, drugs, and stock’n roll.
The cast of The Wolf of Wall Street is filled with some of the best performers in Hollywood, including Matthew McConaughey (best known for Interstellar), whose surreal chest-thumping scene will permanently live in your head, rent-free. The movie also stars Jonah Hill (best known for 21 Jump Street), cast against type as a sleazy business partner who would sell anyone out for enough money. Margot Robbie (best known for Suicide Squad) is also the embodiment of pure allure in this film, and her more risque scenes are likely to awaken something in you.
His Yacht Will Go On
The biggest star of the film, however, is leading man Leonardo DiCaprio, who does an almost hypnotically good job of portraying real-life charismatic con man Jordan Belfort. The actor embodies both the drug-fueled highs and the booze-addled lows of a man who learned to play the American game better than someone else. It’s ultimately to DiCaprio’s credit that he played a character who is very transparently a bad guy, but he is so funny and charming throughout that you just can’t help but root for him.
The Wolf of Wall Street is all about a man making mad money, so it’s only fitting that the film ended up scoring big at the box office. Against a budget of $100 million, this sexy stockbroker film earned $407 million, which is more money than could fit in Jordan Belfort’s yacht. In this way, the film was a real coup for Martin Scorsese, proving that he was still capable of creating films that were both critical and commercial hits.
Loved By Critics, Snubbed By The Academy Awards
When The Wolf of Wall Street came out, critics decided that it was (almost) more fun than an evening with Margot Robbie. It has a 79 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics praising the movie for its consistently irreverent tone and numerous hilarious scenes. They also commended both leading man Leonardo DiCaprio and director Martin Scorsese for a creative dynamic that helped them create arguably the most unforgettable movie of their mutual careers.
The Wolf of Wall Street was arguably snubbed by the Academy Awards, winning none of the Oscars (including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor for DiCaprio) it was nominated for. It was also nominated for two Golden Globes, including Best Motion Picture—Musical or Comedy and Best Actor—Musical or Comedy for DiCaprio. Fortunately, Leo won that Golden Globe, and it was well-deserved: this may not be his absolute best performance, but it is undoubtedly his most infectious and disarming.
Money Over Matter
Going in, I wasn’t sure if I’d like The Wolf of Wall Street. I’m not exactly a Scorceses superfan, and I wasn’t sure how much I’d enjoy a movie about the most boring potential topic of all: selling stocks. But the stacked cast won me over, and once I began watching, I quickly realized this isn’t really a movie about stock sales. Rather, the rise and fall of Jordan Belfort’s business empire serves as a lens through which we can analyze nothing short of the human condition.
By the end of The Wolf of Wall Street, it’s hard to see Belfort as a bad guy. He is simply someone who leveraged his natural talents to maximize his earnings as much as possible.
Oddly, money effectively becomes the great equalizer, as you must eventually ask yourself whether you’d turn down easy chances to make millions and millions of dollars in his place. Mercifully, the movie doesn’t exactly glorify Belfort, and DiCaprio ensures that we see the many failings hidden behind his character’s easy smile and immense success.
Will you agree that The Wolf of Wall Street is a wild thrill ride from beginning to end, or will you want to hop off this ride long before it crashes into the nearest wall? The only way to find out is to stream this Martin Scorsese modern epic for yourself on Netflix. If you end up rewinding a few Margot Robbie scenes along the way, don’t worry…we’ll be the last ones to judge you!
