When Money is Easy

This never feels like a long movie, even though it is around the three hour mark. I put this down to the energy, pace and well written script of the movie. The actors are at the top of their game for this movie as well as the director.



Back in 1987 we have Jordan Belfort, he has just stated as a stockbroker for L.F. Rothschild. He soon learns the culture of sex and drugs and that the only thing that matters is to make money for yourself. After "Black Monday" he is no longer working for Rothschild.

Jordan ends up working at a small firm in Long Island that specializes in "penny stocks", these have an advantage of no real limit on the commission that a broker can charge. As he is an excellent salesman with an aggressive pitching, he soon makes a lot of money.

But what do people with money want? Easy, more money. So he befriends his neighbour, Donnie Azoff, and they start their own company. One method that they employee to make money is the pump and dump scam. To hid this, the company is named Stratton Oakmont, quite a respectful sounding name.

After an article in Forbes, the business takes off and Jordan immerses himself into the a lifestyle of prostitutes and drugs. His rise to the top so quickly that he is noticed by the SEC and the FBI, especially when he makes $22 million in three hours upon securing the IPO of Steve Madden.

Now he has to hide is money, so off to Switzerland we go, he uses the wife and in-laws of his friend Brad Bodnick, who have European passports, to smuggle the cash into Switzerland. The account is opened by his Aunt-in-law Emma as she is a British national.

The FBI have been investigating, however, they don't have a lot on Jordan so he is advised lie low while his lawyer negotiates a deal to keep him out of prison. This, however, isn't something that he can do, so Jordan, Donnie, and their wives go on a yacht trip to Italy. During the trip they learn that Aunt Emma has died of a heart attack.

So in order to get the money out before the Swiss learn of this and freeze the account Jordan travels to Switzerland to immediately to settle the bank account. Due to the amount of money involved he has to bypass the border controls, so he orders the captain to sail directly to Monaco during a storm. The ship is capsized during the storm, oops.

The are rescued, and the plane is sent to take them to Geneva, only a seagull hits the engine, bugger. They manage to survive, and Jordan now has a new outlook on life, he decides to sober up.

Two years later, the FBI arrests one of Jordan's colleagues, whom informs the FBI on all of Jordan's activities. When Jordan is presented with the evidence that the FBI have, he agrees to gather evidence on his colleagues in exchange for leniency. The FBI raids and shuts down Stratton Oakmont. Jordan does receive a reduced sentence for his testimony and is sentenced to three years in a minimum security prison. After his release, Jordan makes a living hosting seminars on sales technique.