'Wolfs' Divides the Critics

         On September 20, 2024, Columbia Pictures releases 'Wolfs', which has divided the critics, currently holding at 67% on Rotten Tomatoes. In the film, "Global superstars George Clooney and Brad Pitt team up for the action comedy Wolfs. Clooney plays a professional fixer hired to cover up a high profile crime. But when a second fixer (Pitt) shows up and the two "lone wolves" are forced to work together, they find their night spiraling out of control in ways that neither one of them expected." The ensemble cast includes Amy Ryan, Austin Abrams, and Poorna Jagannathan. Read the full review round-up below.

       Dallas King of Flick Feast says, "Brad Pitt and George Clooney’s star power supercharges Jon Watts’ entertaining Wolfs. Like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, this is a love story disguised as an action comedy thriller. The film is slick, well-polished and most importantly fun." Adding, he dialogue and interplay between the two fixers is whipsmart, and would play very well with a Friday night crowd at the cinema. Based on the evidence at the press and industry screening at least, who are typically a tougher nut to crack. That is why it does feel like a slight waste that after a minimal week long run in “select” cinemas (whatever that means), it will be discovered by audiences on Apple TV, if the algorithm allows of course. Clooney and Pitt reportedly got paid $35 million EACH, and it feels like cutting off your nose to spite your face. Just 23 years ago, the notion of seeing these two actors star opposite each other would guarantee a huge box office return, as evidenced by the success of the Ocean’s trilogy."

Photo by Mark Wieder on Unsplash

        Luke Hicks of The Film Stage was less impressed, stating, "Pitt and Clooney are exactly what you want them to be, landing dry jabs and maneuvering sly acting chops, playing their chemistry to a T, but Watts’ script gives them so little to play with. There is a distinct sharpness to the dialogue of the Ocean’s trilogy that the two absolutely tear through with the right direction. Likewise, the singular, amoral comic-tragedy embedded in Burn After Reading makes for previously unimagined characterization and a genuine weight of anxiety, be it devastating or hilarious, heaved onto every scene. The duo has proven perfect when a narrative and thematic stage that rich is set. Wolfs doesn’t hold a candle to that complexity. Much like its unclever title, the film is a stilted, cornering work that keeps its performers from shining in any element, cinematography included––it’s a rather unpleasant movie to look at, notwithstanding the glowy, riveting chase through a snowy Chinatown. Pitt and Clooney, as developers and producers, are as much to blame as Watts."    

        Ema Sasic of Next Best Picture notes, "So what if there are silly and not thoroughly thought out plot points in “Wolfs?” Sometimes, all you need is star power and a lot of laughs to have a good time. That’s precisely what you get with this easy, breezy comedy."

       Siddhant Adlakha of IGN Movies writes, "Jon Watts' crime-comedy Wolfs gets caught halfway between humor and meaning without fully creating either one. It spotlights the charming talents of Brad Pitt and George Clooney, but it rests on its laurels, offering them half-baked material with which they can't even conjure an ounce of their Ocean's chemistry. The film is, at a glance, inoffensive – its assembly seems mostly competent – but makes all the wrong aesthetic decisions for a bouncy, farcical film about two criminal "cleaners" forced onto the same job."