The Wolf of Wall Street is a fascinating film, but I don’t know that I would exactly recommend it to anyone because it’s also kind of reprehensible. THIS IS A RED BAND CLIP, in other words. Not only is Scorcese in his full “F-bomb-as-a-substitute-for-writing-dialogue” mode, but pretty much everyone in the film is on drugs for most of the film. Drugs are BAD! However…..this is too hilarious to not recognize, so that’s my moral equivocation opening. Physical comedy is something that’s not chic right now, but masters of it (ex. Dick Van Dyke) have proven that it can be just as funny and witty as the cleverest retort. When you think “physical comedy”, Leonardo DiCaprio is not a name that springs to the fore. However, DiCaprio’s acrobatics trying to reach and operate his car when a metric ton of quaaludes hit his system is, by far, the film’s best scene. His inchworm contortions are amazing, and this is really only half the performance, because he only degrades when he reaches home and gets in a fight with an equally quaaluded Jonah Hill. Whatever you may think of the film as a whole, this part is brilliant. DRUGS ARE BAD! Ok, think I covered myself there.
The punch-line really is, though, when he sees what the poor Lambo really looks like. 😀
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One of the greatest physical comedy sequences in the history of film, and it comes at the exact right moment in the movie. When I saw this highly reprehensible film in the theater, quite a few people were getting up and walking out over the course of the movie. It was not a mass exodus, but it was enough to make me take notice. I imagine many more people were internally debating if they should leave.
The quellude scene was so funny though that I think it got a certain type of person over the last hurdle, and let him enjoy the rest of the film without too much guilt. Black comedy can be tough, but really good slapstick is universal.
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We talked about this film a lot when it first came out, and decided we didn’t care, we liked it and we couldn’t explain why lol. Four years later, that pretty much remains my opinion/explanation of it to others along with a warning that they very well may not.
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True, this movie has sone questionable morals, but I find highly entertaining and Di Caprio to be endlessly compelling in the lead. And yes, this scene is the standout.
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I had no idea DiCaprio had this level of physical comedy in him. This alone, makes the movie worth watching.
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