Page 26 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • January 15, 2014 ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ is cautionary tale by Dennis Seuling “The Wolf of Wall Street” is a major studio film with an A-list star and an A-list director. It also contains some exceptional supporting performances and an ambitious screenplay. Its positioning as a late-Decem- ber 2013 release indicates that the industry regards it as an important film. Its sense of self-importance and bloated running time, however, make it an example of the excess it depicts. Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) works his way up to become a stockbroker on Wall Street. His first day in that position coincides with the 1987 market crash and he is soon out of a job. When he finally gets another, it is in a strip mall office staffed by guys who look more like bookies than stockbrokers. They sell junk stocks that pay huge commissions, often as high as 50 per- cent of the sale price. Jordan quickly makes a fortune in commissions by talking aver- age, middle-class folks into buying crummy stocks, all of which is perfectly legal. Jordan is still not satisfied. He covets rich clients who have far more money to invest. Jordan develops a system to gradually build up their confidence by making them some money with blue chip stocks before pushing the junk. Along the way, he meets Donnie Azoff (Jonah Hill), a guy eager to get rich no matter the means, and together they create a mini-empire of brokers all deter- mined to reap financial rewards with little concern for their clients’ interests. Director Martin Scorsese and DiCaprio team up for the fifth time in this movie, based on the memoir of Long Island penny stockbroker Jordan Belfort. DiCaprio has always shone in pictures helmed by Scors- ese and this is no exception. Belfort is the smooth-talking, good-looking fellow who is so rich he lights cigars with $100 bills. As in his previous role in “The Great Gatsby,” DiCaprio embodies the charm that is the cornerstone of his character’s building a fortune, first legally and then in shadier fashion. Belfort and his crew are making money so fast that there need be no limit to their hedonism, whether it involves call girls, cocaine, exotic sports cars, or yachts. They can have whatever money can buy. As Donnie, Hill continues to rack up an impressive series of sidekick roles, includ- ing the statistics expert in “Moneyball” and Channing Tatum’s undercover partner in “21 Jump Street.” Hill started in broad comedies and, while he uses his comic talents to advantage in the role of Donnie, his performance is a true characterization, transcending caricature, and makes for an interesting contrast to DiCaprio’s Belfort. The supporting cast adds to the film’s luster. Matthew McConaughey has a brief scene as Belfort’s mentor, a man with a rather distinctive playbook for success. Rob Reiner plays Belfort’s father, Jean Dujar- din (“The Artist”) plays a crooked Swiss banker, Kyle Chandler is a persistent FBI agent who sets his sights on nailing Belfort, and Joanna Lumley is Aunt Emma, who becomes crucial in hiding huge sums of money from the government. There is a major problem with the film, however, and it is that Scorsese goes over- board in illustrating the characters’ unbri- dled lifestyle to the point of repetition. Scorsese may have intended to underscore his characters’ growing decadence, but the Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill in ‘The Wolf of Wall Street.’ ultimate effect is to make viewers impatient with this extravagance. There are moments when it even seems as if the actors are ner- vously carrying on with a scene that should have ended far sooner. It’s surprising that these scenes were not trimmed in the edit- ing process, when a movie is given its final shape and pace. The atmosphere of Scorsese’s films is always significant, and the director does an excellent job recreating the excitement of Wall Street in the ‘80s and ‘90s with its conspicuous consumption, disdain of mod- eration, and feeling of invulnerability. The Bernie Madoff case comes to mind, since both Madoff and Belfort became hugely wealthy at the expense of those they duped. Rated R, “The Wolf of Wall Street” is a cautionary tale of the power of money to corrupt and the ability of the corrupted to rationalize their immoral and illegal activi- ties. Despite its excesses, the film keeps viewers involved in Jordan Belfort’s drug- fueled rollercoaster ride.