December 27, 2013 -- This is a story about a group of people who were so crazy, so drunk, so drugged up and so careless that it seems impossible they made millions of dollars in stock market scams, but they did. This film, directed by Martin Scorcese, is based on a true story, otherwise, it wouldn't be believable. It is, in fact, the second movie based on this true story, the first being “Boiler Room” (2000).

This is the story of Jordan Belfort (played by Leonardo DiCaprio, but the real Jordan Belfort also appears in this film as the host of a “Straight Line” show in Aukland, New Zealand), a young stockbroker who falls on hard times until he discovers a boiler room operation selling penny stocks. Belfort has a gift for sales and immediately begins making a lot of money selling worthless penny stocks. He and a friend, Donnie Azoff (Jonah Hill of “Moneyball”) make enough money on the scheme to start their own boiler room operation.

Inspired by a comment from Belfort's wife (Cristin Milioti of “Sleepwalk With Me”) Belfort decides to go after richer clients using a tactic known as a “pump and dump” scheme. The sales people hook their clients with blue chip stocks and once they have their confidence, they persuade them to buy worthless stocks by promising big returns on investment. Instead of big returns, the sales people, and the firm's owners, get fat commissions on the sales of worthless stocks.

This scheme is so profitable for Belfort, Azoff and others rake in millions of dollars. According to the film, this scheme was basically legal, but Belfort went far beyond it to various illegal, under-the-table money laundering schemes and stashed his illegal gains under other names in foreign banks.

Belfort becomes addicted to drugs, including cocaine and quaaludes. He and his employees engage in wild parties with prostitutes and drugs. When the FBI and SEC start sniffing around, Belfort arranges with his friends to smuggle millions of dollars out of the country into Swiss banks.

While the SEC is supposed to police the kinds of illegal activities Belfort engaged in, the SEC seems to be pretty toothless in this film. Indeed, the SEC did little to curb the abuses which led to the financial collapse of 2008. So much for reducing government regulation and relying on laissez-faire, self-regulation of the markets. More effective was the FBI, personified by straight-laced Agent Patrick Denham (Kyle Chandler of “Zero Dark Thirty”).

The cat-and-mouse game between Belfort and Denham reminds me a bit of another movie starring DiCaprio as a crook on the run, “Catch Me if You Can.” It is no surprise that Belfort is finally caught. What is surprising was how long it took to catch him, given how many mistakes he and his fellow conspirators made and how out of control they were.

Wild events happen in the film, like the sinking of Belfort's yacht in the Mediterranean, the arrest of Belfort's Swiss banker on an unrelated crime, the fight between Azoff and the bagman, Brad (Jon Bernthal of “Snitch”) which attracts the attention of police, Azoff and Belfort getting wasted on quaaludes so badly that Belfort was unable to walk or talk and Azoff nearly dies choking on food, Belfort trying to bribe an FBI agent, a couple of nasty divorces because of Belfort's continued infidelity to both his first and second wives (the second wife is played by Margot Robbie of “About Time”).

The acting in the film is superb by DiCaprio, Hill, Robbie, Chandler and Bernthal. DiCaprio, especially, takes us on an emotional roller coaster, with a performance that goes from broadly comic to intensely dramatic. Who knew this guy could be this funny? His powerhouse sales pep speech to his stockbrokers is also one for the books. Belfort is an awful person, but DiCaprio finds the humanity in this character and makes you care what happens to him.

Chandler is also a revelation in this film. His portrayal of Agent Patrick Denham has the subtlety and strength of a good Robert Forster (“Jackie Brown”) performance. Ethan Suplee, who plays crazed, intense stockbroker Tony Welch, is also very good in this film. Suplee has lost so much weight recently, I didn't recognize him.

Belfort is a guy who just can't get enough, money, drugs, sex, everything. This film is like that. It just doesn't know when to quit. It is three hours long and it kind of wears you out by throwing more and more absurd, outlandish, awful behavior up on the screen. It is overkill. I got the point already. It is also somewhat depressing to see guys like Belfort, who hurt so many people, get off so easy, when there are people doing hard time for life for relatively minor crimes. This film rates a B.

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