Movie Review : Wolfs (2024)
George Clooney and Brad Pitt don't need any movie to promote themselves. Especially if they're at the same place, at the same time. They could start a podcast like every other man of their age and there would immediately be a million listeners at least. The two actors earned, over the years, the status of being immediately the most interesting person in any room they walk in. So it didn’t matter whether or not their new film Wolfs was good or not (it’s just alright), they make it a good time by virtue of being there.
Wolfs tells the story of two anonymous fixers. You know, the guys you call up when you need to get rid of a dead body. Both men somehow end up on the same call, the first (Clooney) being requested by a client and the second (Pitt), being requested by the hotel the client happened to be in when a teenage male hooker (Austin Abrams) drops dead of an apparent overdose with hundreds of thousands of dollars of dope in his backpack. It’s the beginning of a long night for two pros who are used to working alone.
Angry, Workaholic Middle Aged Men
There's not a lot to Wolfs in the sense that it’s both minimalistic and quite conventional? I don’t want to say it’s unoriginal (even if it isn’t going to win any screenplay awards) because it’s not trying to reinvent the wheel. It's just meant to showcase George Clooney and Bratt Pitt's insane on screen chemistry and it absolutely does that. These two are so ridiculously good together, they make you forget who they are and make you care about bare bones stereotypes of the aging interloper and his cocky heir apparent.
Seriously, Wolfs is the story of two middle-aged dudes (one obviously older than the other, it’s a broad category) who do nothing with their lives but their jobs and who feel pretty darn good about that. It would be great if the screenplay dug a little deeper into what-it-is-they-do, body disposal techniques and whatnot, but it doesn’t. All these is for two hours are two grey haired dudes who behave like fifteen year old and call each other names for almost two hours. It gets old quick, but director Jon Watts understands this.
The screenplay to Wolfs is average (borderline mediocre), but the movie has enough style and gusto to conceal it. The action scenes are quirky and unconventional. It features one of the best foot pursuits in recent memory with a crazy fun use of slow motion, but scenes like that can only go so far if it’s supposed to feed audience attachment to two emotionally stunted assholes. I mean, most criminals ARE emotionally stunted assholes, but the two fixers are neither sympathetic nor interesting. It's a problem.
Not-So-Buddy Cops
I love George Clooney and Brad Pitt as much as the next guy and I’m trying to work with what I’m being given here. Wolfs is a spin off the buddy cop comedy trope, except the two protagonist aren't cops at all. They are men of honor who, like samurai, have given their lives over to a code without much return on investment except perhaps for financial gain, which is ironically never discussed in the movie. I guess you could say it’s a testament to how friendship can blossom under duress? Like pros before bros and whatnot.
Because Clooney and Pitt have this unalienable quality they can exploit in any movie to make you feel like you’ve known them for years. They banter is so universal, elastic and so utterly precise that listening to them feels like shooting the shit with someone you know and trust. It’s weird. I’m telling you there’s pretty much nothing to rave about in Wolfs, but I didn’t dislike it. I remained entertained for the entire 108 minutes run mostly out of a sense of vague familiarity with two guys who always play the same parts.
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So should you watch Wolfs? I really can’t advocate for it and at the same time, I can also guarantee you won’t feel duped after watching it. In the parlance of Kevin Smith, it's "just a movie". It exists in its optimized form and it will most likely be forgotten in the weeks following your viewing. It’s going to end up as one of these movies you’re never sure whether you’ve seen or not until you watch the trailer. Watch it. Don’t watch it, I don’t care. You life will more or less be the same whether you do or don’t.
6.5/10
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