Even aside from the language and themes which made my mom, wife, sister and son need to leave the room …I didn’t like the movie much.
I try not to know much about a film before watching — all I knew was that it was Wall St. and Decaprio. I thought the story would be about a brash guy but didn’t know he was an outright criminal. I was picturing a slightly more edgy version of Will Smiths Pursuit of Happiness. Whoops.
What is most baffling to me is that I seem to remember reading reviews and posts praising the character of Jordan Belfort. I’ve heard that movies like this or Boiler Room can cause job applications on Wall St to spike. Director Oliver Stone has said that he’s often horrified when men come up to him and tell him that the Gordon Gecko character inspired them to become stockbrokers. This is insane.
People love stories of underdogs, hard workers and good salespeople who claw their way to the top. But Belfort’s character in this film is not the hero they should be looking for. One of the first responsibilities of every citizen is to do no harm to others and to respect their liberty and property. People who lie, cheat and defraud others such as pump and dump penny stock scammers are a low form of scum and are criminals with no redeeming quality.
I had hoped to see a film that reminded me of the early days of my career and instead saw this train wreck which didn’t resemble anything I’ve ever seen. In fairness to the Director, Martin Scorsese, had I known this movie was the Scarface of business films beforehand I might have enjoyed it more.
What I would much rather see someday is a story about someone like one of the lead brokers who worked in my first office. I’ll call him Levy. Levy was loud, brash, foul mouthed, occasionally mean and vindictive, he threw phones, fired people and had wild mood swings. He grew up being picked on and clawed his way to success. He was a flawed human but he never, ever lied or cheated anyone and on the occasion he made mistakes he once told me that the quicker and clearer you apologize the better. I can still hear his nasally voice shouting to clients “I’m sorry I was f—ing wrong! That stock sucked! I was wrong!” If people want flawed humans, larger than life characters and those who have climbed the ladder of success, there are thousands of these stories on Wall St. comprised of people who did not use lies and fraud.
To the young ambitious dreamers out there please take it from this old vet: there is nothing redeeming about the business practices of Belfort as portrayed in the film. Work the hours, perfect your craft and have that tenacious desire for success. The greatest success stories on Wall Street and in life are those who create a win for everyone.