If you’ve considered seeing The Wolf of Wall Street, hold on to your hats.

Surpassing Scorsese’s penchant for creating characters you love to hate, Leo DiCaprio is officially in his element: he’s charming, he’s vile, and he’s out of control. Best of all, he’s hilarious. Like rolling around on the floor, out of his mind on quaaludes, while Jonah Hill fends him off with a bowl funny.

So funny in the kind of way where you hate to laugh, but the two hours and fifty-nine minutes make you do so anyway.

The Wolf of Wall Street got an Academy Award nomination (or five) because it’s high quality directing and writing, with a cast of actors who don’t back down no many how many hookers or expletives the script calls for, and a genre-bending story where DiCaprio doesn’t die. What more could you want?

Addendum: In addition to the raucous, raunchy, and generally ridiculous behavior of our protagonist and friends, be prepared for some nice, meaty dialogue scenes. There’s real substance here, and a hell of a social commentary in between the lines.