DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: About 45 minutes have been cut from the nearly 3-hour high-finance extravaganza “The Wolf of Wall Street” for Dubai audiences, or a quarter of the film, leaving many viewers disappointed and confused about the sequence of events.

The cuts come as the movie has drawn criticism even from film critics in more liberal countries for its portrayal of drugs, sex and money. Detractors say the film glorifies unchecked greed, includes and is loaded with a reported record for F- bombs in a movie — more than 500.

Moviegoers said all profanities were bleeped out from the Martin Scorsese movie featuring Leonardo DiCaprio. One woman wrote on the Facebook page for Reel Cinemas, which operates two theaters in Dubai, that she and her friend walked out after about 40 minutes because they felt the movie was simply incoherent and unwatchable.

It is standard policy across most of the Middle East for governments to preview and censor uncut versions of movies, although the extent of the censoring may differ. Censors edit out even kissing scenes in local theaters and on certain Arab satellite television channels.

Juma Al-Leem, director of media content at the National Media Center, said censors in the United Arab Emirates, which includes Dubai, typically cut out scenes or language deemed blasphemous or harmful to national security.