The Wolf of Wall Street

I'm not sure what the point of this movie was, but I felt like I got the point, bluntly and in no uncertain terms, after an hour or two. Unfortunately the movie kept making its point for three hours, so I was surprised to find myself wondering when a Martin Scorsese movie was going to end. DiCaprio (Jordan Belfort) was good, but he's been good in all his Scorsese movies. Jonah Hill is terrific as Donnie Azoff, a depraved drug addict who happens to be a stockbroker too. Margot Robbie (Jaime Pressly's doppelganger) is Belfourt's second wife, the perfect blonde who is craven enough to make all the dumb choices that dumped her into Belfort's life. The depraved bacchanalian excess displayed onscreen is more extreme than I've ever seen, and yes, many many women are used as sex objects throughout the movie, but I don't think it's fair to criticize Scorsese for denigrating women, when it's Belfort and his scores of amoral followers who denigrate them in every way possible. It is fair to point out that Belfourt conned hundreds of hardworking families out of their life savings, essentially bankrupting strangers for fun and profit, but he barely seems to understand where this money comes from. And then he squanders it all. I don't expect Belfort's character to be redeemed, or ever to acknowledge his monstrosity, but all we hear is the voices of a few suckers on the other end of a telephone. What's the point?

If this movie is a portrait of pure capitalism at work, then There Will Be Blood did a better job. I'd pay to see Jordan Belfort go bowling with Daniel Plainview. Stub Hubby Grade: C-plus.

(Landmark Embassy Waltham, in the freezing cold Polar Vortex)