The Wolf of Wall Street: The Book | The Movie | Explicit Material | Comedy | Fun Facts

The Book

The film is based on the memoir of Jordan Belfort titled, ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’. The book is filled with unbelievably insane stories of debaucher, sex, drug use and criminal activities. By day Jordan Belfort made thousands of dollars a minute. By night he spent it as fast as he could. From the binge that sank a 170-foot motor yacht and ran up a $700,000 hotel tab, to the wife and kids waiting at home and the fast-talking, hard-partying young stockbrokers who called him king, here, in Jordan Belfort’s own words, is the story of the ill-fated genius they called the Wolf of Wall Street.

In the 1990s, Belfort became one of the most infamous kingpins in American finance: a brilliant, conniving stock-chopper who led his merry mob on a wild ride out of Wall Street and into a massive office on Long Island. It’s an extraordinary story of greed, power, and excess that no one could invent: the tale of an ordinary guy who went from hustling Italian ices to making hundreds of millions—until it all came crashing down.

THE MOVIE

Martin Scorcese’s movie of the same name, starring Leonardo DiCaprio follows the book very closely and includes much of the writing in the dialogue in the film. The film relishes showing his exploits and drug-induced mayhem with his team of equally deplorable stockbrokers.

“The Wolf of Wall Street” was nominated for 5 Oscars including best actor (for Leonardo Dicaprio) best director, and best picture.

Leonardo Dicaprio turns in a fantastic performance with his portrayal of real-life ex-fraudster/drug/sex addict Jordan Belfort. Though many scenes in the movie are exaggerated or improvised for the sake of comedic excess, the real Jordan Belfort says that the film accurately portrays the crazed debauchery of his life during that time.

EXPLICIT MATERIAL

An overabundant use of profanity, explicit graphic material, and drug use gave this film an element of controversy. Some people find the unabashed blatant depiction of drug use and sexual material to be offensive, but the ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ wears its offensive elements as a badge of honor. Nothing is held back and everything is put out on display for the audience to interpret it however they wish.

COMEDY GOLD

This movie is hysterically funny. Though it is not a comedy first and foremost, often putting thematic and dramatic elements first, the film manages to be consistently funny throughout. The film sets a very fast pace from the beginning and hardly ever slows down. There was a lot of improv done by the actors as well which contributed heavily to the comedy. The film manages to tell a very good story while being incredibly funny. The film mixes the two genres by having a fully dramatic scene where a character is left by the wife, balanced out by a scene with Leonardo Dicaprio under the influence of Quaaludes crawling and rolling around on the ground for 15 minutes.

FUN FACTS

• “The Wolf of Wall Street” takes pride in how graphic it is because it reflects the nature of the characters in the film. “The Wolf of Wall Street” has broken the world record for the most “F” words in a movie, a title that has previously been held by other Scorsese films “Casino” and “Goodfellas”.
• “The Wolf of Wall Street” is a very long movie clocking in at exactly 3 hours, and the rate of profanity averages out to 3 “F” words per minute. If you are someone who cannot handle strong language or graphic depictions of what many would consider profane material, then this movie is probably not for you.

This film is truly hilarious at times, more so than a lot of straight-up comedies, and what’s more impressive is that it remains dramatically competent at the same time. “The Wolf of Wall Street” is full of genuinely funny moments, original set pieces, strong dramatic elements, and great performances.