‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ — good movie; just don’t bring parents, grandparents or younger siblings

I don’t go to the movies often. In fact, the last time I went to the movies was freshman year. That’s because they typically bore me, but I must admit that Martin Scorsese's "The Wolf of Wall Street," starring Leonardo DiCaprio, was the most enthralling movie I’ve seen in awhile.

My greatest concern before watching the movie was that I wouldn’t understand the financial terms and references. I had little to worry about. The film’s narrator and protagonist, Jordan Belfort, assuaged that fear by explaining the financial world in great detail. He talked about IPOs and blue-chip stocks and how stockbrokers make money, making it an educational lesson about a world I had no previous exposure to.

The main attraction of the film, however, was the totally excessive and over-the-top everything. The movie does absolutely nothing in moderation, and revels in it. 

While other movies include moderate swearing, “The Wolf of Wall Street” has more f-bombs than “Huck Finn” has n-words — so many, in fact, that it holds the record for most f-bombs in a movie ever. Belfort blows millions of dollars and hundreds of lines of cocaine in a single weekend without batting an eyelash. Handfuls of hundred-dollar bills literally are poured onto totally naked women that Belfort and his associates bought, effectively giving viewers a sense for the crazy and immoral life of top Wall Street men. 

This movie has so much sex and nudity that it borders on pornography. My advice: Don't bring a younger sibling and don't go to it with your grandma.

The total debauchery of Belfort’s bachelor party bacchanale and the chaos of the trading floor make for an almost unbelievable story of living on the edge. During the movie, I thought that Scorsese had pushed the limits of film with his depiction of almost-comical excess. I never thought anyone could live like that.

So I was shocked to discover at the end of the movie that it was based on a real story, that a real Jordan Belfort existed and lived a life of scandal and money. I couldn’t believe that someone could possibly live the way Belfort’s lifestyle had been depicted in the movie, and to think there actually was someone who lived his daily life doing Quaaludes — a sleeping pill that becomes Belfort’s drug of choice — and yelling obscenities at a business meeting while making a million dollars a week, blew my mind.

Though I wouldn’t watch “The Wolf of Wall Street” with my parents, grandparents or any family member for that matter, I’m glad I watched this movie. It takes a great film to capture my attention, not to mention for three whole hours. But it takes a fantastic movie to teach me about something I know nothing about and keep me laughing at the same time. 

And it’s given me an idea. Given the obscene amount of money Wall Street brokers make, maybe one day I’ll be on Wall Street too — just without Belfort’s lifestyle.