History Film / TheWolfOfWallStreet

* AspectRatioSwitch: The film switches from its native 2.35:1 ratio to 4:3 for scenes presented as video footage of the time period and 16:9 for the Stratton Oakmont commercial at the beginning and the Benihana commercial near the end.

* BatmanGambit: How Stratton Oakmont operates. First, the brokers offer customers good stocks in Bluechip Companies like Disney and IBM. Then, once those stocks increase in value and the customers trust the brokers, they unload the dummy stocks and earn, thanks to lower regulation, even higher commissions than they would in the real stock market.

* VoiceOnlyCameo: Creator/EdwardHerrman provides the voice of the narrator of the Stratton Oakmont commercial at the beginning of the film.

* TheSociopath: Jordan; Impulsive, anti-social, violent, hedonistic, views everything and everyone as a possession. He [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation may or may not have wised up to his sins by the end]].

* StartMyOwn: Jordan Belfort on the first day of his job at Wall Street is described as being "lower than pond scum" and after the 1987 crash, he loses his job. Stratton Oakmont (complete with fake Old Money respectable title) is essentially his version of Wall Street, where he uses the deregulated penny stocks and pump-and-dump operations to become semi-respectable enough to make it back in Wall Street. Jordan {{Lampshades}} the same when talking about his firm's big break, the IPO(Initial Public Offering) for Steve Madden.

* TheSocialDarwinist: Jordan Belfort and everyone else at Stratton Oakmont, except for Jordan's dad, are about exploiting the less business savy so they can thrive.
* TheSociopath: Jordan; Impulsive, anti-Social, violent, hedonistic, views everything and everyone as a possession. He [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation may or may not have wised up to his sins by the end]].

** Robbie suggests Ardcliffe International as one of the [=IPOs=] Stratton Oakmont should take public during the Long Island Beach Party, though Steve Madden is chosen as the company for Stratton to take public later in the movie. Ardcliffe is mentioned by a Strattoniate during Jordan’s AsYouKnow narration about an IPO, though.

* PunctuatedForEmphasis: “I! WILL NOT! DIE! SOBER!”

* SurroundedByIdiots: While Jordan is not really better and in some cases worse, he acknowledges Donnie and the other staff at Stratton Oakmont are not that bright and full hedonists, and would much prefer the smarter and composed Brad to work for him who in turn doesn't want to join Jordan's firm for that exact reason.

* {{Understatement}}: During the bedroom argument, Naomi complains about Jordan once flying back home on his helicopter at 3 AM and inadvertently waking up Skylar doing so. The scene cuts to a flashback of a completely intoxicated Jordan downright ''stumbling'' out of his helicopter and falling into his pool, triggering an alarm so loud that ''that'' woke up Skylar. Naomi doesn't even bring up that Jordan would have risked drowning due to his wasted state at the time.

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: The movie has elements from the autobiography.
* VillainHasAPoint: As noted under {{Futureshadowing}}, Jordan points out to Denham that the big Wall Street firms like Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers don't operate entirely within the law themselves and aren't that different from him. Considering their tactics were a big contributor to the late 2000s recession and let to several lawsuits and prosecution, he's not wrong.

* WorldOfJerkass: Almost everybody is a selfish, greedy, or bastardly {{Jerkass}}, with the exception of Jordan's parents, his first wife, Naomi to some extent, their kids, and Denham.

** Robbie suggests Ardcliffe International as one of the IPOs Stratton Oakmont should take public during the Long Island Beach Party, though Steve Madden is chosen as the company for Stratton to take public later in the movie. Ardcliffe is mentioned by a Strattoniate during Jordan’s AsYouKnow narration about an IPO, though.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: It is rather brief, but the film does not try to hide the attitudes towards gay people in the 1980's and 1990's in America. While Jordan, Donny, and a couple of the other main characters don't have an issue with the gay butler, they are very much the exception, and once the butler starts testing the patience of some of the investors, they openly call him the f-word openly and with no sense of shame. While it is debatable what exactly Jordan told the cops, they are shown hitting the butler with a billy club, as being homosexual, while no longer a crime in New York by the eighties, was still looked at with scorn and suspicion. Donnie's rather severe reaction to being accused of being gay also highlighted the fact that being accused of being gay in the 80's and 90's often resulted in social mistrust.

* AnythingThatMoves: Both Belfort and Donnie have this attitude. Belfort under the influence is a real piece of work, crossing into DudeNotFunny territory when he dry humps an air hostess and has to be strapped to his chair.

[[caption-width-right:310:[[SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll Sex, drugs]] and [[WhiteCollarCrime penny stocks.]]]]

* AspectRatioSwitch: The film switches from its native 2.39:1 ratio to 4:3 for scenes presented as video footage of the time period.

--->'''Jordan:''' BENI-FUCKING-HANA!
* BettyAndVeronica: Belfort's first wife, Teresa, is a dark-haired girl who knew Belfort when he was in his lower-middle class NaiveNewcomer phase. Belford then takes Naomi, who's blonde, gorgeous and half-English (which leads him to call her "The Duchess") as first his mistress and then his TrophyWife.

* CallBack: [[spoiler:The ending shows Jordan at one of his get-rich seminars with a test to see who can sell him a pen, just like Brad did earlier in the film.]]

* LackOfEmpathy: Jordan is an unrepentant narcissist who only cares about himself. The suicide of a fellow Stratton Oakmont employee is casually brushed away and when [[spoiler: Aunt Emma dies of old age, he blithely ignores Naomi crying at the death of her aunt,]] to take them to Switzerland so he can settle his money instead.

* TheNineties: The movie goes far in portraying this era with an eye for detail, especially outdated phone technology, computer systems and car models, and nuances in fashion. There's a photo of President Clinton seen in the FBI questioning scene near the end of the movie.

* CompanyCreditCardAbuse: "Max Max" storms into Jordan's office waving an American Express bill totaling $430,000, demanding an explanation regarding certain purchases including a $26,000 dinner and a charge for what he easily determined to be a high-class prostitution ring. Jordan and Donnie's weak excuses do nothing to placate his fury.

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