There is a scene in "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" where Gordon Gekko is sitting on the steps talking to his daughter Winnie about his son,
her brother, who was a drug addict. I did not know whether I was
watching Michael Douglas, the actor, Michael Douglas as the reel father
or the real father  but I have not been as moved in a theatre like I was
this afternoon in a very long time. I, also, wanted to slap his face
each time he smoked a cigar!

I
am not a fan of Oliver Stone, the director, and he has been directing
films like enough to cut out the scenes that first time directors all
have in their films to show how artistic they are. He, also, has a
completely unnecessary motorcycle scene that only makes the movie longer
than it should, or needs, to be.

Giving
credit where credit is due Stone does get very credible work from his
cast with two exceptions with one due to inexperience and the other due
to 'staying on' too long. Douglas shines in his role and on screen to
the point that when he is off screen the picture dims. With every
performance Josh Brolin proves he is one of our better actors and  Carey Mulligan is certainly becoming a major actress in films. Frank Langella and Susan Sarandon do their usual  professional job and impress in their roles.

The
major misstep in the film was the casting of Shia LaBeouf who doesn't
have the experience, or maturity, to play the role he does. Whether it
is Langella or Brolin he disappears when he is acting opposite him and
Douglas blows him out of the theatre. He does hold his own in the scenes
as Sarandon's son and as the lover of Mulligan.

I have loved watching Eli Wallach on stage, and in films, for many years but it is time for him to stop
acting. His performance in this film is embarrassing and almost undecipherable.

Is
this Douglas's last hurrah? I hope not and whether it is or not, "Wall
Street: Money Never Sleeps" should be seen for his performance,
especially for that scene on the steps with Carey Mulligan. He really
gives a glorious performance throughout an average film that seems to be
based on the financial news of the the last couple of years. He
definitely deserves an Oscar nomination and whether he will be the first
actor to get two of the statuettes for playing the same character 23
years apart (though Paul Newman came close winning one and being
nominated for the playing the same character in two different pictures)
unless a better performance comes along in the next 3 months he just
might.

I don't know know how original the line is, and Allan Loeb and Stephen Schiff, the screenwriters, offer quite a few sharp one liners, I will be sure to mention Gekko's "Stop telling lies about me and I will stop telling truths about you."