WISE Score
Avg. Tomatometer
Leonardo DiCaprio snorts everything in sight and loses his mind in Scorsese's three-hour adrenaline shot of pure, unadulterated greed.
8.279%
75
Look, The Wolf of Wall Street is an absolute blast of a movie, but it’s basically a three-hour riot. It’s Scorsese doing what he does best: chronicling the rise and fall of charismatic monsters. It’s funny, it’s loud, and it’s deeply cynical.
For an adult audience, it’s a 10/10 recommendation for the craft alone. For a family environment? It’s a nuclear hazard. There is no version of this movie that is 'okay' for kids. It’s the ultimate 'after the kids are in bed' watch.
This is strictly for adults. There is no 'mature teen' exception here unless you want to explain every drug and sexual act known to man. It's a great movie night for parents, but wait until the kids are at a sleepover—not just in the other room.
This movie is the polar opposite of wholesome. It celebrates and then eventually (maybe) critiques a lifestyle built on fraud, exploitation, and extreme debauchery.
Scorsese's direction is electric. The way he breaks the fourth wall and uses kinetic editing is masterfully creative, even if the story is based on real-world greed.
It is a safety hazard for anyone under 18. Record-breaking profanity, graphic nudity, non-stop drug use, and a complete lack of moral guardrails.
As a satire of American greed and a masterclass in acting and editing, there's plenty to chew on—provided you're an adult who can see through the 'glamour' of the crime.
When The Wolf of Wall Street dropped in 2013, it sparked a massive debate: was Martin Scorsese glorifying Jordan Belfort, or was he burying him? The truth is, Scorsese trusts the audience to realize that while throwing midgets at a target and snorting coke off a Ferrari might look like a 'party,' the people doing it are soulless husks.
Leonardo DiCaprio’s Jordan Belfort is a force of nature. He carries the film with a manic energy that is honestly exhausting to behold. Beside him, Jonah Hill’s Donnie Azoff is perhaps even more depraved. Their chemistry makes the movie feel like a dark, twisted buddy comedy rather than a standard biopic. If you're looking for a comparison, think of it as Goodfellas but with stocks instead of shotguns.
Usually, an R rating means some blood or a few f-bombs. Here, the R rating is working overtime. The film holds the record for the most uses of the f-word in a narrative feature (over 500 times). The drug use is constant—characters are literally never sober. There are scenes of office-wide orgies and graphic nudity that would make a Vegas promoter blush.
Don't try to find a 'teachable moment' here for your kids. This isn't The Big Short, which tries to educate you on the housing crisis. This is a visceral experience of excess. It’s brilliant filmmaking, but it’s 100% adult entertainment. If your teen sees this, they’re going to come away thinking being a white-collar criminal looks like a great time—which is exactly what the real Jordan Belfort wants people to think.
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