Words by Harry Webber February 10, 2021

You know that feeling when you’re endlessly browsing on whatever streaming platform you use?

… Or your partner/housemates/dog is shooting down everything you want to watch? There’s no bigger waste of free time than scrolling through Netflix or Stan or Amazon unable to pull the trigger. So look, we’re gonna help you out and make an executive decision every Wednesday and help you get through one goddam evening of the week.

First up is Martin Scorsese’s 2014 film Wolf Of Wall Street which is based on the exploits of former Wall Street millionaire Jordan Belfort. It’s spawned about a million memes, put ludes on the mind of every twenty-something and inspired a generation of nobs to become grubby bankers.

Over the past fortnight, we’ve seen the whole Gamestop saga play out and the investment firms who run businesses in the ground for a living kick up a stick over some rogue Redditors beating them at their own game. It feels like the Redditors were reacting to the kind of behaviour shown in this movie, making it feel more relevant than ever.

Most importantly, it’s also one of the funnest films ever made, and if you (or whoever you’re convincing to watch) need any more reasons to give it a run tonight, hit the list below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iszwuX1AK6A

DONNIE

It’s well known that Jonah Hill took a huge pay cut to work with Scorsese and play Belfort’s partner in crime Donnie Azoff, taking home a meagre $US60K for the film compared to Leonardo DiCaprio’s $US10 million. Safe to say the film wouldn’t be anywhere near as good without him bringing his comedic expertise to the shoot. You can tell he was given a free pass to ad-lib, and he squeezed every drop out of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViEjSgM4hIs

THE MIND BOGGLING TRUTHS

Like any Hollywood film, much of the story was embellished to make for exciting watching, though some of the craziest shit in the film was actually real… Apparently crashing the helicopter, sinking the yacht, and most of his crimes really happened. Plus, Belfort did have a stockbroker mentor who told him that masturbation, cocaine and hookers (AKA what McConaughey’s character Mark Hanna says) were the keys to success – too crazy to make up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBgYe_GBGDM

THE SOUNDTRACK

Once again Scorsese enlisted longtime collaborator Robbie Robertson to oversee the music for the film and it’s pretty much a goldmine of classics from the 50s and 60s, including a tasteful amount of Howlin’ Wolf (ya get it).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0aIjyX7vwI

THE MESSAGE (MAAAAANNN…..)

There are two ways you can look at this film. It can be a yeah-the-fucken-boys kinda thing where you view Belfort as a champ who was taken down after bending the rules a little. Or you can see it for what it really is: an examination of everything that is wrong with the financial system as highlighted by a greedy, abusive, midget (Belfort is super short in real life which apparently gave him chronic little man syndrome). Scorsese frames it so Belfort is the charming devil, the sales floor is the pits of hell and his pals are demons – watch it with that in mind and the film feels a lot darker (and better) than before.