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Three hosts of the 3 Guys and a Flick movie review podcast with movie-themed background.
🎙 Podcast Episode 48

The Wolf of Wall Street

Join the Guys as they review Martin Scorsese’s 2013 biographical black comedy crime film starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, Matthew McConaughey, Kyle Chandler, Rob Reiner, Jon Bernthal, Jon Favreau, Jean Dujardin, and Joanna Lumley, where Jordan Belfort turns penny stocks, greed, fraud, salesmanship, and an ocean of bad decisions into one of Wall Street’s wildest rises and loudest crashes.

Release Date December 25, 2013
Runtime 179 minutes
Director Martin Scorsese
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3 Guys and a Flick — Episode 48

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)

ⓘ Details

Movie TitleThe Wolf of Wall Street
Release DateDecember 25, 2013 in the United States
TaglineEarn. Spend. Party.
Runtime179 minutes / 2 hours 59 minutes
DirectorMartin Scorsese
Screenplay Written ByTerence Winter
Based OnJordan Belfort’s 2007 memoir The Wolf of Wall Street
Is It a Remake?No. It is an adaptation of Belfort’s memoir, though the accuracy of some claims around Belfort’s story has been debated.
BudgetApproximately $100 million
Box OfficeApprox. $116.9 million domestic / approx. $406.9 million worldwide
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👥 Main Cast

Leonardo DiCaprioJordan Belfort
Jonah HillDonnie Azoff
Margot RobbieNaomi Lapaglia
Matthew McConaugheyMark Hanna
Kyle ChandlerAgent Patrick Denham
Rob ReinerMax Belfort
Jon BernthalBrad
Jon FavreauManny Riskin
Jean DujardinJean Jacques Saurel
Joanna LumleyAunt Emma
Cristin MiliotiTeresa Petrillo
P. J. ByrneNicky “Rugrat” Koskoff
Kenneth ChoiChester Ming
Brian SaccaRobbie Feinberg
Henry ZebrowskiAlden Kupferberg
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🏆 Awards

⭐ Academy Award Nominee — Best Picture
⭐ Academy Award Nominee — Best Director, Martin Scorsese
⭐ Academy Award Nominee — Best Actor, Leonardo DiCaprio
⭐ Academy Award Nominee — Best Supporting Actor, Jonah Hill
⭐ Academy Award Nominee — Best Adapted Screenplay, Terence Winter
⭐ Golden Globe Winner — Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy, Leonardo DiCaprio
⭐ Golden Globe Nominee — Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy
⭐ BAFTA nominations included Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay.
⭐ American Film Institute selection — one of AFI’s Movies of the Year for 2013.
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📖 Short Plot Summary

Jordan Belfort starts as a young Wall Street hopeful and quickly learns that selling the dream can be more profitable than telling the truth. After launching Stratton Oakmont, Jordan builds a boiler-room empire fueled by penny-stock scams, obscene wealth, drugs, loyalty, ego, and total moral collapse. As his inner circle gets richer, louder, and more reckless, FBI agent Patrick Denham begins closing in. Jordan’s genius for persuasion keeps him running for a while, but every party, yacht, bribe, and lie moves him closer to the crash he refuses to believe is coming.
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❝ Key Quotes

“Sell me this pen.” — Jordan Belfort
“I’m not leaving.” — Jordan Belfort
“The show goes on!” — Jordan Belfort
“Was all this legal? Absolutely not.” — Jordan Belfort
“Pick up the phone and start dialing.” — Jordan Belfort
“Those are rookie numbers.” — Mark Hanna
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💡 Trivia

Director

  • The Wolf of Wall Street was directed by Martin Scorsese.
  • The film marked another major collaboration between Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio.
  • Scorsese directed the movie with a deliberately excessive style, matching the characters’ greed, volume, speed, and total lack of restraint.
  • The film became Scorsese’s highest-grossing movie worldwide during its theatrical run.
  • Scorsese earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Director.

Cast / Casting

  • Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Jordan Belfort and also produced the film.
  • DiCaprio earned an Oscar nomination and won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy.
  • Jonah Hill earned an Academy Award nomination for playing Donnie Azoff.
  • Margot Robbie’s performance as Naomi Lapaglia became one of her major breakout film roles.
  • Matthew McConaughey’s chest-thumping lunch scene became one of the movie’s most quoted and imitated moments.

Soundtrack / Score

  • The film does not rely on a traditional original score in the same way as many dramas.
  • Scorsese uses a wide mix of preexisting music to shape the movie’s manic, seductive, and ugly energy.
  • The soundtrack pulls from rock, pop, blues, jazz, and soul, helping the film bounce between celebration, satire, and collapse.
  • The needle drops often make the fraud feel thrilling in the moment, while the story keeps showing the cost underneath the party.

Location

  • The story is set mainly in New York and Long Island, following Jordan Belfort’s rise through Wall Street and Stratton Oakmont.
  • Filming took place in New York City and other New York-area locations.
  • The movie’s offices, restaurants, mansions, yachts, and corporate event spaces all help create a world where excess becomes the default setting.
  • The real Stratton Oakmont was based in Long Island, which gives the story a different flavor than a purely Manhattan Wall Street movie.

Behind-The-Scenes

  • The screenplay was written by Terence Winter, based on Jordan Belfort’s memoir.
  • The film was produced by Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, Riza Aziz, Joey McFarland, and Emma Tillinger Koskoff.
  • The movie premiered in New York City on December 17, 2013, before opening in the United States on December 25, 2013.
  • The film was originally at risk of an NC-17 rating and was edited to secure an R rating.
  • Box Office Mojo lists the domestic gross at approximately $116.9 million and the worldwide gross at approximately $406.9 million.

Nostalgia

  • The Wolf of Wall Street is one of the defining outrageous prestige films of the 2010s.
  • Its mix of Scorsese crime energy, DiCaprio chaos, Jonah Hill weirdness, and finance-bro debauchery made it instantly memeable.
  • Scenes like “sell me this pen,” the Quaalude crawl, and “I’m not leaving” became major pop-culture touchpoints.
  • The movie remains divisive because some viewers see it as a brutal satire of greed, while others feel it gets dangerously close to glamorizing the behavior it depicts.

Easter Eggs

  • The real Jordan Belfort appears near the end of the film as the Auckland Straight Line host introducing the movie version of Jordan.
  • The “sell me this pen” bit became a shorthand for salesmanship, but the movie uses it to expose how persuasion can become manipulation.
  • Donnie Azoff is based on Danny Porush, though the character and many events are fictionalized.
  • The constant fourth-wall breaking keeps Jordan in control of the story, even as his actual life falls apart.
  • The final seminar scene turns the audience into one more room full of people hoping to learn the trick from the scammer.

Misc.

  • The Wolf of Wall Street is rated R.
  • The movie runs 179 minutes.
  • The film was nominated for five Academy Awards.
  • It became famous for its extreme profanity, graphic sexual content, drug use, and nearly three-hour runtime.
  • Your 3 Guys and a Flick ratings page lists The Wolf of Wall Street as Episode 48, with Don rating it 4.00, Ken rating it 1.50, Jon rating it 3.75, and an overall rating of 3.08.
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🔗 Sources Cited

3 Guys and a Flick — Episode 48: The Wolf of Wall Street 3 Guys and a Flick — Ratings IMDb — The Wolf of Wall Street IMDb — Full Cast & Crew IMDb — Awards IMDb — Quotes IMDb — Taglines IMDb — Soundtrack IMDb — Filming Locations IMDb — Trivia Box Office Mojo — The Wolf of Wall Street Box Office Mojo — Release Details The Numbers — The Wolf of Wall Street Rotten Tomatoes — The Wolf of Wall Street Metacritic — The Wolf of Wall Street
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