I saw The Wolf of Wall Street earlier this week, and have been wanting to blog about it since. I’ve not read any other reviews of it, but anecdotally, the people whom I know that have seen it felt it to be over the top and ostentatious.  I have to agree with them after seeing it myself, but also point out that that’s the point of the film. Jordan Belfort (played brilliantly by Leonardo DiCaprio) lived a life of excess. In fact, he took excess to excess. He drank way too much alcohol, took way too many drugs, slept with way too many women, and had way too much money. And  his mission was to keep pushing beyond the boundaries of excess in order to maintain his excessive lifestyle.

When I was in film school, one of the common mantras of all of the instructors was to push something as far as you think it can go, and then push it farther. It didn’t matter how crazy something seemed, if you think you’ve pushed an idea far enough, you probably haven’t. I’m not inside his head, but I believe that was the mantra that Martin Scorsese was going for with The Wolf of Wall Street. Every time you thought this story couldn’t get any wackier, it would. When you think they’ve taken the drug motif as far as it can go, Donnie Azof (played by Jonah Hill as only could play the role) finds an old set of ludes that are so powerful, they turn Jordan into jelly so that he literally has to crawl into his Lamborghini  in order to get home to keep Azof from giving away incriminating information over the phone. When you think they’ve taken the sex as far as it can go, we see Jordan with a dominatrix who has stuck a lit candle up his ass and then proceeds to drop hot wax on his back. Just when you think that Jordan is going to do the right thing and walk away, maintaining his wealth, his family and his dignity, his addiction to the adrenaline of what he’s doing prevents him from doing so, and continues him on down the path of self destruction.

Thematically speaking, this is a very powerful film.

This is also a highly entertaining film. It has a wit and an energy that you wouldn’t suspect to come from a director who has been making films for more than 40 years. I fact, it might be the funniest film that Scorsese has ever made. There was wit in The Departed and in Goodfellas and in Casino, but to the best of my knowledge, Scorsese has never made a film that was such a romp as The Wolf of Wall Street, which is another example of why Martin Scorsese has to be considered one of the, if not the, seminal film director of our time. Going backwards his last five films are The Wolf of Wall Street, Hugo, Shutter Island, The Departed, and The Aviator. Aside from the fact that DiCaprio starred in four of them, you’re not going to find four more different films, and three of them were nominated for Best Picture and The Departed took home the award. Anyway, I’ve gotten off track a little bit, but my original point was that the over-the-top nature of this film and the story helped make it the most entertaining film of 2013 that I’ve seen.

From a screenwriting and storytelling perspective, I feel that there is a lot for aspiring screenwriters to learn. It’s a long film, coming in at exactly 3 hours, but the structure of the story is still there. In fact, there is a very clear Hero’s Journey motif in this film, and all of the stages are represented. What is even more interesting is what they did with the characters. One thing that Scorsese’s films always seem to have are characters that are unlikable, but you’re still compelled to root for them. Jordan Belfort is not a hero. Other than Bernie Madoff, no one can relate to him. He’s a criminal who built an obscene amount of wealth by manipulating ordinary people out of their money. Yet, in the third act, when he has that opportunity to do the right thing and walk away, you’re really hoping he will. You root for Jordan, even though you don’t like him and can’t relate to him.

Part of that has to do with DiCaprio. Here is a man who is a really fine actor. I haven’t seen all of the performances for Best Actor, but DiCaprio at least deserves the nomination he received. He does some amazing work in this picture, and it is his performance, along with Scorsese’s direction, that make this film what it is.

Overall, I highly recommend seeing The Wolf of Wall Street. You have to be in the right mood, and you have to prepare yourself to be in the theater for 3 hours. It doesn’t drag, however, and it didn’t feel like that long of a film to me. If you’re an aspiring screenwriter, watch it for it’s character depth, thematic motifs and overall story structure, and you will learn valuable lessons on crafting an entertaining and compelling story.