Martin Scorsese directs a tale of debauchery of a criminal genius as he evades the authorities in epic fashion. Sound familiar? It should! While it sounds most like ‘Goodfellas’, it could also describe a number of Scorsese flicks: ‘Mean Streets,’ ‘Casino,’ ‘Gangs of New York’, ‘The Departed,’ and ‘The Last Temptation of Christ.’ (Okay maybe not the last one, but you get the idea.) You kind of know what to expect, but Scorsese excels at telling these stories.

Of course, the aforementioned films mostly tell stories of organized crime and the mafia. ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ takes place on… well… Wall Street, and deals much more with white-collar crime. The other key difference is that this film is much more about the debauchery of one man and his antics than it is about the crimes. I really can’t use the word “debauchery” enough times to describe this film. He is on drugs in nearly every scene and he and his coworkers are seen with countless hookers. The most memorable scenes involve use of Quaaludes, Jordan Belfort’s drug of choice. I wish I could sit here and tell you about the plot, but to be honest, it’s kind of secondary in the film. (Though it’s not exactly difficult to figure out what happens.)

There are two performances of note in the film. The first, and most prominent, is Leonardo DiCaprio, who plays Belfort, the protagonist. He brings a certain immoral intensity to the role. You can’t help but kind of hate the dude, but you also can’t help but think Wall Street is full of people just like him. “I can spend their money better than they can.” Once you consider that he plays the man from his naïve youth to sober middle age, it’s possibly his best performance. The other performance of note? Margot Robbie, who is now on everyone’s short list for the hottest woman on the planet. Zow.