Director: Jon Watts
Writer: Jon Watts
Stars: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Amy Ryan
Synopsis: Two rival fixers cross paths when they’re both called in to help cover up a prominent New York official’s misstep. Over one explosive night, they’ll have to set aside their petty grievances and their egos to finish the job.
The new action comedy Wolfs is short on action and even shorter on comedy. This partner-in-crime film relies primarily on the charisma of its leads and the memory of the once-shared camaraderie between George Clooney and Brad Pitt from the Ocean’s 11 franchise. Now, trade that chemistry for some natural male toxic antagonism, and you might hope for some laughs that happen organically. The problem is that comedy is hard, and these performers hardly excel in this area. The final result is more stagnant, pleasant amusement than anything original.
Wolfs begins with a woman named Margaret (Beau Is Afraid‘s Amy Ryan), who is running for district attorney on a tough-on-crime platform. However, the married politician, with a couple of young children at home, becomes a randy lady at an upscale hotel bar and takes a young man (Do Revenge’s Austin Abrams) home, who probably reminds her of a poor sweet boy’s Timothée Chalamet. Unfortunately, things take a sudden turn when he jumps off the bed like a child, crashes into a glass cart, and dies in her room.
Panicked, Margaret calls a man she knows little about, except that she’s been told he’s a man of his word. This fixer (Clooney) confidently reassures her, saying, “There is no one who can do what I can do.” However, that’s when the hotel’s own fixer (Pitt) shows up—a man who only has the hotel’s best interests at heart. Margaret’s guy is a stoic, no-nonsense silver fox, while the hotel’s man is older but boyish, showing signs of wear and tear, yet still cocky, confident, and, like the other, a bit of a mystery.
Then, things take an even stranger turn when they discover a backpack with four or five bricks of cocaine worth a street value of over $250,000. The hotel’s management, Pam (voiced by Frances McDormand), demands they find out where the “nose candy” came from and why it ended up at the hotel. One would think this is where Clooney’s character could take off with the body and be done with it. However, by conventional film logic, the movie wouldn’t be much of a movie without the MacGuffin, so the story drags on, wasting everyone’s time.
Wolfs was written and directed by Jon Watts, the man behind the rebooted Tom Holland Spider-Man films. Like a Michael Mann comedy, the movie looks slick and you know, the bee’s knees, with spectacular production value. However, while watching these iconic movie stars is always enjoyable, they seem to be coasting through the film, relying on the name and their faces they find on their driver’s licenses. We can’t remember the last time Pitt or Clooney truly moved the box office needle in a movie since 2013’s Gravity and World War Z—studios seem to be paying for Hollywood royalty rather than star power that draws in ticket sales.
The film builds momentum while Butler’s “Kid” is alive, as a narrative device to keep the Hollywood duo, “Clitt,” together and propel the plot forward. Much of the banter between the two stars is intended to be funny but would come across as whining if delivered by actors like Paul Giamatti or Dennis Franz. It becomes grating if you close your eyes, as I did, and listen to the dialogue. Supporting characters like Amy Ryan, Clooney’s BFF Richard Kind, and the always wonderful Poorna Jagannathan from Never Have I Ever fare much better in their minor comedic roles.
Yet, there is something to be said about the small joy of watching these two on-screen eye candies who gladly steal your time; ultimately, it’s about how you choose to spend it. However, whenever the film stumbles into a plot hole, the script falls into another. For example, there’s a contrived plot point involving the Croatian mafia. Just when the characters are about to save themselves, Watts has them sell out in a clever conversation of entities in the third act. To make matters worse, the studio cannot help but devise a forced conclusion at the end to set up a sequel, which is in bad form.
Wolfs is a perfectly explainable way to put your mind on autopilot if you want an aesthetically enjoyable way to waste your night. However, as the story progresses, no amount of star power can cover the contrived nature of Watts’ script.