Director Martin Scorsese has the knack of filling his better films with an intense energy, and I cannot think of a story better suited to Scorsese’s urgency than this tale of a fearless financier taking advantage of everyone around him.  It’s all very strongly grounded in reality, and most of its outrageous situations come across as believable and convincing.  That fact is a testament to its filmmakers, and yet it is troubling to some viewers, including myself.

The Wolf of Wall Street is a provocative film that has loudly and widely been accused of glorifying the greedy, illegal, immoral and immature behavior of its major characters.  This is an argument raised whenever criminals are shown in any sort of attractive light, and on the face of it, there seems to be good reason for it.  Stock trader Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his followers rob their investors at every opportunity, flout the laws of regulations prohibiting such unethical action and use their ill-gotten winnings to pay for alcohol, drugs, sex, midget-throwing and many other debaucheries.  Of course it looks like fun; I’m sure the real people had a blast while it lasted.  But eventually, as in every other cautionary tale, the chickens come home to roost, and penance must be paid.  The movie bogs down as Belfort’s empire comes crashing down, but such a denouement is inevitable.  Scorsese tries not to dwell on the moral hangovers that his characters suffer, instead depicting as realistically as possible what happens when the party is shut down by the Feds.

Because Scorsese is a master filmmaker, most of this movie is smart, funny, sexy, outrageous and very entertaining.  Not all of it, at least for me, however.  The worst sequence is an extended scene involving ancient Quaaludes, a really pretty car and telephone calls.  It’s the one time when the story just goes too far; it may very well have happened exactly as it is portrayed, but it’s also completely ridiculous and over the top.  Other sequences come close to that level yet still seem grounded, but not that one.

Leonardo DiCaprio is excellent as a man whose ambitions and lack of inhibitions cause his chosen career to skyrocket, even after a drastic market drop.  His right hand man is Jonah Hill, who is good but annoying as hell.  One of the really neat aspects about the script is how Belfort surrounds himself with his friends, who are not nearly as smart, clever, personable, charming or attractive as him, yet he rarely condescends to them, and genuinely works to give them better lives.  His sincerity in this manner goes a long way to allowing the audience to forget that he is stealing from everybody else.

Overall The Wolf of Wall Street is a pretty well made film.  It’s packed with style and technical proficiency, such as lenses that change as Belfort’s drug addictions emerge, and it isn’t afraid to be raunchy.  There’s a boatload of profanity and some impressive nudity, for those that like that sort of thing.  It also doesn’t wallow in the type of toilet humor that is so prevalent nowadays.  And yet, because of the callousness of the main character — even though he is completely up front about his greed — I really didn’t like this film very much.  It doesn’t glorify the behavior, but such excess is undoubtedly obscene, and it was hard for me to watch.  It was so effective that I didn’t want the earnest FBI guy (Kyle Chandler) to catch Belfort — and I felt bad about rooting for such a greedy pig.  ☆ ☆ 1/2.  20 January 2014.