‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ Turns 10

Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street” was released 10 years ago yesterday. Its resonance still looms large.

This year, we had two separate Scorsese polls — for critics and readers — and “The Wolf of Wall Street” kept cementing its legacy as the filmmaker’s best film of the 21st Century. According to these polls, it’s either ‘Wolf’ or “The Departed” as the best film Scorsese’s released since 1999.

A 10-year-anniversary write-up from Esquire makes claim of ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ being such a prescient film that it ended up predicting the Trump era. I don’t necessarily think it just predicted Trump as much as just this massive cultural change of excess and outrage, which would happen just a few years later.

Yes, “The Wolf of Wall Street” opened 10 years ago this week. Directed by Scorsese, the $100 million film grossed $407 million and became the director’s highest grossing film. Critics were split on it, but time has been very kind to ‘Wolf’.

I can remember its opening week, the film receiving a dreaded C on CinemaScore, and some journalists being outright pissed at Scorsese’s statement about ego. The main complaints had to do with ‘Wolf’ being materialistic, encouraging greedy behavior, extreme wealth, and advocating for the criminal individuals portrayed in the film.

Variety journalist Whitney Friedlander called the film "three hours of cash, drugs, hookers, repeat" and argued that the film was a "celebration of this lifestyle.” I don’t think she got it.

In a September interview with GQ, Scorsese revealed that he was, at first, unaware of the heated debate surrounding the film. He mentioned then discovering that there were two distinct camps among critics: one that loved the film and another that was disappointed by the lack of a clear moral condemnation for lead character Jordan Belfort's actions. Scorsese himself seemed unfazed by the criticism, stating that such moralistic attitudes were "beyond boring."

Scorsese went on to describe an infamous advanced screening of ‘Wolf’ in New York City, which led to heated debate over the moral positioning of the film:

Apparently, I was told this: there were two camps [in New York], one camp that loved the picture, the other that was furious and said that I didn’t take a moral stand on [‘Wolf Of Wall Street’ protagonist] Jordan Belfort, and one of the critics from the other camps that liked the picture, said, ‘Do you really need Martin Scorsese to tell you that that’s wrong?

The moral rot in ‘Wolf’ was clear as day. You didn’t need critics to point it out, or not understand it.

Scorsese's had the last laugh since his sprawling crime epic has become one of the most timely movies of the last decade. Its IMDb score is a highly impressive 8.2 based on 1.5 million votes — it’s also listed as the 132nd greatest film of all-time on IMDb. Many critics included it on their best of 2010s lists.

It also features the best performance of Leonardo DiCaprio’s career. It is certainly the riskiest performance from the actor who has never been freer or more playful than as Belfort, the former stockbroker, financial criminal, entrepreneur, speaker, and author who scammed his way to millions.

‘Wolf’ is also the film that introduced many young millennials, and Gen Z, to Scorsese. This epic of high debauchery had scenes veering towards pure slapstick comedy. In a way, it’s as fervently comic a satire as, say, Scorsese’s timely 1983 indictment of ego and fame, “The King of Comedy.”

The film predicted a divisive country that was about to combust at any second. Scorsese held up a mirror up to America and reminded us that these are the kinds of guys that own, and continue to flourish, the most power. In a way’ “GoodFellas”, “Casino”, and “The Wolf of Wall Street” can be seen as an unofficial trilogy about the criminal class slowly moving into the mainstream.

Outrageously entertaining, the film continues to gather up an audience. This past September, it climbed to the top of the Netflix charts and spawned more conversation than it ever has before. It’s very hard to deny that Scorsese’s film keeps striking a chord with movie audiences, and continues to do so, no doubt due to its scathing relevance.