The Wolf of Wall Street (2013): Film Notes and Scores

Director:

Cast:

Poster artwork for The Wolf of Wall Street — Original poster artwork · Great Cinema Master List

Spoiler-free premise

Stockbroker Jordan Belfort builds a fraudulent Wall Street empire whose wealth, drugs, salesmanship, and excess attract federal investigation.

Read expanded premiseLonger, still spoiler-free

After a market crash ends his first Wall Street job, Jordan Belfort applies aggressive sales tactics to penny stocks and founds Stratton Oakmont. The firm's scripted persuasion, market manipulation, and lavish culture grow alongside Jordan's appetite for drugs, status, and control.

Why it belongs

The Wolf of Wall Street makes financial fraud intoxicating and repellent through speed, direct address, physical comedy, and DiCaprio's bottomless performative appetite.

Read expanded why it belongsThe fuller editorial case

Voice-over, freeze-frames, sales-floor chants, pop music, subjective drug sequences, and sudden breaks in chronology reproduce Jordan's self-selling energy. DiCaprio's comic fearlessness keeps charisma inseparable from exploitation.

Major award record

Metadata only · zero points in 40/40/20

Golden Globes1 win2014 · official film record ↗

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy2014 · Leonardo DiCaprioofficial film record ↗

Totals include every recorded competitive win. Only Picture or top-film honors, Direction, Screenplay, and lead or supporting performances are named.

Good for

Film Club

Descriptive guidance derived from rating, genre, runtime, mood, and GCML scores.

Institutional reference ranks

Sight & Sound—IMDb Top 250126AFI 100—

Reference metadata only · not part of the 40/40/20 score

Great Cinema Master List scores

Greatness8.5

Engagement9.0

Ease8.8

English · R
Narrative Feature
Mood: Tense & Absorbing

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