In 1987, a 25-year-old man named Jordan Belford starts working on Wall Street as a stockbroker. Crazy things constantly happen such as drama, profanity, and lots of phone calls. Otherwise, the business is stable.

Jordan has a lovely wife, as well, despite his young age. He also becomes influenced by drug-fueled stockbroker culture. Thanks to that, he now wants to become rich.

Unfortunately, he loses his job on Black Monday, shortly after starting. And Black Monday is when the stock market drastically drops—it’s a big record since the Great Depression began in 1929.

Luckily, though, Jordan finds another job. It is at a boiler room brokerage firm on Long Island. Thanks to his unique attitude, Jordan starts making extra money.

In addition, he becomes friends with his neighbor, Donnie Azoff, and reunites with some of his childhood friends. They start their own jobs, too.

So far, all the men are successful. However, Jordan makes an error, causing the stocks to decrease in value. This might mean trouble and failure.

I will admit that even though this movie is based on a true story, it really did not engage me too much. It’s 3 hours long, but I could barely make it past the half hour mark.

One of the reasons is because it’s hard to follow. The scenes and points-of-view switch so quickly that it’s difficult to keep up with the story. I actually used Wikipedia to help me narrate the beginning of this post. Of course, all words are my own.

Anyway, the scenes felt like they were thrown in random order rather than in a linear storyline. Many of the characters were hard to keep up with other than Jordan or his wife.

On the bright side, the excessive swearing did make the movie a little more engaging, even if it was unprofessional. Yes, this film is rated R for language and other mature themes. So, it’s not for kids.

Another perk was how the opening was quite strong. Jordan would narrate his life in the present and how his situation started back in the 80s. I even found it interesting that he got married at 22—which is pretty young for today’s standards.

Otherwise, The Wolf of Wall Street didn’t exactly work out for me. If it were shorter, smoother, and easier to follow, I would have enjoyed it.

That being said, I do have empathy for the real people who struggled during that time. It is just how the movie depicted the events that made me have trouble understanding it.

I give it 2.5 out of 5 stars.