Oscars: Every Best Picture Nominee Of The 2010s - Ranked Worst To Best
7. The Wolf Of Wall Street
The Wolf of Wall Street is all about excess. From the exhausting runtime to the size of the cast to the ridiculous, real-life stories of these vile rip-off merchants, Martin Scorsese's film revels in the wealth, arrogance and unethical decadence of his subjects. The non-stop nature of the film means it's always entertaining, and there are some hilarious set-pieces (usually made possible by the copious consumption of quaaludes), but it's supposed to feel exhausting by the end.
Scorsese intentionally draws you into the extravagant lifestyle of his Wall Street scammers. Makes you almost envy their success. And certainly revel in their debauchery. But, just as you almost come to excuse their unethical practices because of just how cool the results are, he shows you just how rotten they really are, and gets you to feel a bit dirty about ever being so on board.
It was a tricky line to walk, and there's no doubt many people out there who view The Wolf of Wall Street as nothing but a celebration of this kind of life, but Scorsese is able to pull it off primarily through the physical, cerebral performance he generates from leading man, Leonardo DiCaprio.
JB