COMPETITION- WORD FORMATION

The Wolf of Wall Street

Martin Scorsese’s three-hour burlesque of LOATHE, crooked f
inancial activity and extravagant personal DEBAUCHEE is meant to epitomize everything that has gone wrong with the money culture. Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jordan Belfort (a realworld scoundrel and SWINDLE) comes right at us, narrating directly to the

camera, like a low-rent Richard III; he pitches us his SHADE deals and his DRUG, manic life. At the BROKER that Belfort sets up, DiCaprio, addressing the troops, arches his back, NEAR swallows the mike, and preaches the gospel of winning, killing, and triumphing. PHYSICAL, DiCaprio’s work is ASTOUND, but it’s also one of the most completely externalized performances in movie history—Jordan Belfort is not, in the end, very interesting. Neither is the movie: Scorsese stages the moneymaking, orgies, and drug-taking with such JUBILATE, unref
lective VITAL that they might be part of a Broadway MUSIC—a knock-the-tourists-dead show called “Greed!” With Jonah Hill, as Belfort’s henchman; Kyle Chandler, as the SURPRISE subtle F.B.I. agent who pursues Belfort; and Margot Robbie, as the inevitable blond trophy wife.