Buddy Beaverhausen Catches Up with Oscars' Best Picture Nominees # 7: The Wolf of Wall Street

The Wolf of Wall Street might better be titled The Pig of Wall Street, frankly, darlings. This very stylized Martin Scorsese film is full of the shady and despicable male characters he gravitates towards but, to me, yielded very little interest or emotional investment for all of its machismo, coking, cursing, and pieces of ass and of eight.

Based on a memoir by one Jordan Belfort, a boy from Queens, NYC who ruthlessly worked Wall Street with manic bravado, Leonardo DiCaprio portrays that aforementioned character in no-holds-barred fashion. Leo D seems to be on a binge playing rich dudes as he recently assayed the screen roles of Jay Gatsby and Howard Hughes. When men chew up the scenery, they're not judged as harshly as when women do that. I mean, honestly, is this performance in Wolf of Wall Street any better or in any manner subtler than Faye Dunawaye as Joan Crawford in Mommie Dearest? Or Patty Duke as Neely O'Hara in Valley of the Dolls?

Matthew McConaughey, himself competing for Best Actor on Oscar night, has an interesting supporting part in this film. Jonah Hill is nominated for Best Supporting Actor this year, mostly I must assume due to his weight loss.

The Wolf of Wall Street lost my interest early on and continued ad naseum with its men acting badly.  Needless to say, I am bearish on this unpleasant and unnecessary film (high tragedy it ain't) for its Oscar categories: Best Picture, Actor (DiCaprio), Supporting Actor (Jonah Hill), Adapted Screenplay, Directing (Scorsese).