Money can buy you anything, love, a great damn time, and hey what do you know, even if your reputation is in tatters, your life is a sorry old mess, money can still ensure you get away without suffering much consequence at all, in fact you still have your freedom and a steady income, and hey those delirious memories of landing your helicopter whilst high as a kite and the joys of throwing dwarves at dart boards whilst shagging prostitutes or undeniable beauteous woman and imbibing all manner of intoxicating substances.
This is a film which is designed in essence to be a no-holds barred biopic about a man with an insane amount of money and balls who pulled off multi-million pound scams every day, but the film refuses to judge this man, it just bombards us with his constant terrible behaviour, it's a rise and fall tale of a man obsessed with excess and thrill. What sticks is that we spend most of the time laughing at the insanity of the events unfurling before our eyes, most of the film is played for laughs, it's all one big joke! It's so hilarious! Everyone just laughs, let's all just laugh because it's so funny!
Of course, I felt the sour taste curdle in my mouth as I walked away from the cinema but as it stands, a lot of people take the film at face value, because the face is so exciting and so damn fun and hey Leonardo Dicaprio is proselytizing with his big microphone. What a lot of people saw was essentially bankers conning people out of masses of money and having a great time living the high life - as such there have been articles about how people are dressing like the Wall Street lot, reminiscing about the good times when people blindly trusted bankers and lost tons of money making idiotic deals.
In my desperate bid to avoid being entrapped within the hospitality industry for the rest of my life I made a big decision to hand out as many CVs as I could, contact as many employment agencies as possible and basically make it my life's mission to be anything but a waitress. The only interested parties appeared to be banks who wanted me to sit on a phone and take phone calls from irate people who really hate using telephones but hate computers more - predominantly the elderly. In the end after various failed interviews and soul-crushing hoops to trip over, I am now working in a bank as an execution only stock broker. I essentially farm calls from people who wish to engage in the stock market and handle their accounts, do deals for them, help with password resets - all very rote but extensive stuff. What this does mean is I was given two weeks training which mostly introduced me to the world of stocks and shares. Not that I'm an expert or anything but as it stands I entered this film with a working knowledge of the stock market, as I now work in an office not unlike the ones displayed on film... Well... Minus the obvious.
Did I go into this film expecting a searing insight to the world of stocks and shares? Well, no, but I was hoping for something more substantial than say... substances abuse? The film gives the briefest of explanations via Leo's camera talking, but as soon as he starts to explain the particulars he cuts himself off, that's too boring! Let's go snort some more cocaine! The particulars being that Jordan Belfourt took advantage of 50% commission on the Penny Market - which is essentially an unregulated pittance poor market which lets just about anyone join it as long as they have enough paper to print off certificates. The point being Belfourt cons wealthy clients into buying into these dubious companies by flat out lying to them about their 'potential' and strong arming wealthy clients into buying masses into worthless shares and pocketing the 50% commission - that's the simplest way of describing things, obviously there are other more devious plans at play but that's the skinny of it. As the stock-brokers are all capable of giving advice and are completely unregulated by their conscience or the FSA (who turn up and are sent away without much issue) and are coached by the 'sales-genius' of Belfourt, they basically made a shit ton of money.
As I say, the film goes to great lengths to show you what they were doing, it doesn't focus on the how or why, you are simply shown enough to give you the gist of it then you're laughing at an overdose or Jonah Hill being blatantly gay whilst trying to disguise that fact to everyone including himself. Oh yeah, so Jonah Hill is here for, I think comic relief, or to continue his role as sidekick in big films and being lauded for it. As for Leo, he's on top form, I don't think I've ever seen him this expressive (although his turn in Django Unchained was incredible) and fully invested in a role, it worked on him and hopefully he'll receive some sort of recognition which he craves. Then there's Margot Robbie who plays Belfourt's second wife who is genuinely stunning but has beyond little to do aside from look gorgeous and bewildered in equal measures as the film focusses on cranking out laugh after empty laugh.
Scorcese is one of the greatest directing talents and here he once again shows his inability to blink, he displays the debauchery and horrors that such things bring without casting judgement. The film ends with Belfourt free to roam and engage in seminars teaching people his secret to success, what did all this cost him? Well to be honest, he had what he had, the big mansion, the helicopter, the yacht, the women, the drugs, he had it all, and for him that's probably never enough because he'll always want more and for it all to last forever; but he had all that which people can only dream of given the chance, he had that and no amount of looking pathetic whilst skipping jail is going to erase the facts, he got away with it, he lost nothing but his dignity, but he still has his ability to walk and breathe and go on in this world. But hey at least we all had a good laugh.
