We as Americans have always been amazed by the rich. What they wear, how they act and perhaps most interesting of all, how they fall. Because if there’s one thing people love more than watching what dresses Lindsay Lohan is wearing on Tuesday, it’s seeing what scandal she’s engaged in on Thursday. But you have never seen people so rich, and so scandalous, as the ones shown in Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street.

Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) is trained on Wall Street to be able to sell anything and everything, an ability that helps him out when his job (working for a harmonizing broker played by Matthew McConaughey) goes belly-up. Starting over with stocks and companies so small they can’t be found anywhere near Wall Street, he moves on to opening a company of his own; one where he’s in control and can make insane amounts of cash. With his newfound partner Donnie (Jonah Hill) by his side, Jordan’s ready to do anything to amass a financial empire, even if it somehow gets the attention of the FBI.

Every single frame of The Wolf of Wall Street has manic activity, some kind of gesture or action that sets the bar for debauchery in cinema. Jordan Belfort’s reign of success came during a period of ambition and drive, two words that motivate all of the insanity that occurs in the film. Women get their heads shaved, Jonah Hill swallows a fish, DiCaprio watches a plane explode; honestly, that’s pretty much all of the riveting sequences in the film I can actually talk about in an online school newspaper, but rest assured that during the 3-hour runtime, there’s never a dull moment. Such an achievement comes courtesy of Scorsese’s excellent directing skills, which are in peak condition here, as he finds unique ways to frame pivotal scenes and keep even the most dialogue heavy scenes interesting.

Now, over the past year, Leonardo DiCaprio has dipped his toe into playing very rich people of high stature, and I can see why. His personality makes him a likable fellow, but he also seems to have class, something that suits the rich. For Jordan Belfort, he exudes confidence through even the slightest blink of his eyelids, his devotion to making everything go perfect for him never in doubt. He cares very little for other people unless they do exactly what they say, and DiCaprio does it all without completely alienating us from him. We never like Belfort, but we at least don’t despise him, all thanks to DiCaprio’s truly terrific performance. As his best buddy Donnie, Jonah Hill is just astounding. Who would have thought, at the start of Hill’s career, that he’d be turning in layered performances like the one seen here? Constantly either on drugs or acting just plain crazy, Donnie is an unpredictable human being, and it’s not hard to see why Belfort gravitates towards such a personality. Scenes with DiCaprio and Hill just bouncing off each other are some of the films best, especially a scene where DiCaprio has to perform CPR under unique circumstances.

The Wolf of Wall Street is an endlessly brilliant film, one that will practically live in your mind days after you see it thanks to it’s memorably vulgar (to put it lightly) sequences and imagery, along with spectacular acting, directing and writing. Frankly, there’s really nothing else quite like it this year, and though you may not think of it as highly as I do, I doubt you’ll ever truly forget the epic ballad of Jordan Belfort.