Cheers! Skol! Salut!
Leo and Margot, go ahead and make that toast! You have a lot to celebrate! You created a masterpiece! You really, really did!
Where to begin? Well, first with my usual caution that I will strive not to be a spoiler. That said, what is the film? It's a brilliant, one-of-a-kind, over-the-top portrait of 80's gluttony and hedonism.
Based on a true story, the film follows the amazing career of a loudmouthed, self-centered, master of deception who builds a financial empire based on empty promises and schemes. In a word, he's a Madoff before his time.
He's a young orator with the gift of persuasion who shouts his way to the top, getting eager sales folks to do his bidding over the phones and prey on the meek and innocent. He combines the spark of Burt Lancaster in Elmer Gantry, the razz-matazz of Vin Diesel in Boiler Room, and the power of Al Pacino in Glengarry Glen Ross to reach the heights of the GREAT CON.
Is Leonardo a "wolf"? YES! And one helluva wolf he is! Hard to believe he's the same slow-to-learn-to-act pretty boy to whom, when he finally went down with the Titanic, some of us said, "Good riddance!"
Hahaha.
Under Marty Scorsese's brilliant direction, DiCaprio rises in stature like a meteor, acting up a storm, and making this reviewer believe he will take home the Best Actor Oscar this March.
Wow!
Margot Robbie plays DiCaprio's love interest with heat! The two create a spark, a chemistry that is searing! Her prior claim to fame was as a stewardess in the short-lived TV loser, Pan Am. Somehow, Scorsese saw more in her than sheer beauty....and what a choice he made. She will very possibly get Best Supporting Actress for her work in the film as the stupid, beautiful blonde who lives life in the fast lane with Leonardo.
Matthew McConaughey has a short but fantastic role as the senior broker who tells the young Leo what being a cheat is all about. He is GREAT! And to round out the mix, watch Jonah Hill play Leo's Jewish sidekick with wondrous comic effect.
This film is gritty, tough, hard to watch. The language is foul. The drugs are rampant. The sex is everywhere. But it's an absolute gem.
A++ grade. So......RUN out and see Scorsese and DiCaprio bring home a winner!
I guarantee you won't forget this flick for a long time to come....and when you think of human excess, you will cite this amazing work of art.
I am trying to work up the energy to sit for 3 hours in a theatre. But this is on my list.
ReplyDeleteUntil then, just a few comments. I've read that critics are panning this film for being over-the-top. Yet isn't that precisely Scorsese's point? You sometimes have to be what you are trying to denounce, as in greed and excess (of time, etc.)
Critics can be so dense.
I'm surprised by your dismissal of diCaprio up to this point. While I generally leave filmography lists for you, David, in my opinion, he showed talent beyond his years as the mentally impaired Arnie in What's Eating Gilbert Grape. Stole the show (and my heart). Then Romeo and Juliet, Inception, Gangs of New York, Revolutionary Road, Django Unchained... I think diCaprio has been unfairly overlooked by Hollywood for a long, long time.
I'll weigh in more after seeing Wolf, but I hope the consequences of greed are made clear. Sometimes I worry that a film can accomplish its opposite intent and end up glorifying for some what it attempts to condemn. Look at Michael Douglas's Wall Street. Since that film, our economic imbalance has only increased exponentially.
Ah, well, I wax on and on.
Hi Valerie: I stand rightly corrected on Leo. I think he has been overlooked. I think Titanic was his weakest showing, but in every other film he shined. Good point, film buddy. I can't wait to hear what you say about WOLF.
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