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Wall Street
User Score
7.8 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 25 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 25
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 25
  3. Negative: 2 out of 25

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  1. divtactics
    Mar 18, 2011
    7
    I had heard a fair amount about Wall Street in the past and had dismissed it as likely being more or less what it did end up being: interesting, but not absorbing. I wanted to have watched it, though, to provide context for when I eventually watch Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, and the fact that it stars Charlie Sheen made it all the more relevant and fascinating. Charlie, as Bud Fox, is in nearly every scene of the movie, and given recent events it was hard to watch for anything other than his performance. Having watched and enjoyed Platoon last year, though, I wasn't really surprised that he performed quite well. He was dark and brooding and very intense, and more or less nailed the role, even intermittently causing me to forget that I was watching Charlie Sheen. Michael Douglas also did a fantastic job at embodying the ruthless, unscrupulous character he was portraying. That character, in turn, embodied the tone and the overarching theme of the movie, most notably with his famous "greed is good" speech. In fact, Michael Douglas was awarded the Academy Award for Best Actor for this role, and I would say deservedly so, although I haven't seen any of the other performances that were nominated that year. Martin Sheen was also great as Bud's father, but his casting made it so that, again, examining the acting - in this case Charlie and Martin's father-son dynamic - was more interesting than watching the actual movie. Add that to Charlie's mere presence, Darryl Hannah's lack of charm, wit, or sexiness as Bud's love interest, and the laughable 80's-style art, decor, fashion and technology that featured in the movie and it made for an overwhelming number of distracting factors that precluded any real immersion in the movie itself. In the end though, the main distracting factor - studying Charlie Sheen - is also the most compelling reason to watch, at least at this point in time. Combine that with Michael Douglas' performance and Wall Street becomes quite a worthwhile viewing experience. (http://diversionary-tactics.blogspot.com)… Expand
  2. CRL
    Jul 28, 2011
    9
    Wall Street combines one of the most interesting and deepest villains ever in Gordon Gekko with an interesting and emotionally-charged plot as well as a great performance by Charlie Sheen to make one of my all-time favorite films.
  3. spadenx
    Jan 15, 2012
    7
    It was an interesting movie but overall it had quite a bit of flaws. I still enjoyed it though and thought Michael Douglas was an amazing lead. Worth the watch imo.
  4. imthenoob
    Jan 24, 2012
    7
    I liked the film. It was driven by Douglas's amazing performance through out and the rest of the cast was solid as well. I did not like Charlie Sheen at all in this film and thought he was terrible for this kind of role. The film is interesting and definently worth the watch but dont expect it to be the greatest film you have ever seen.
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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
56 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 16 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 16
  3. Negative: 2 out of 16
  1. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Rita Kempley
    60
    Douglas plays Gekko with a terrible intensity. He raves and rants, but he has a rascal's humor.
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  2. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    88
    Stone's most impressive achievement in this film is to allow all the financial wheeling and dealing to seem complicated and convincing, and yet always have it make sense.
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  3. Variety
    Reviewed by: Staff (Not Credited)
    20
    Watching Oliver Stone's Wall Street is about as wordy and dreary as reading the financial papers accounts of the rise and fall of an Ivan Boesky-type arbitrageur.
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