Image: “Wolfs” (2024) Movie Poster via IMDb
Who doesn’t like a good crime story? Whether it’s cigar-chomping, tommy-gun-toting gangsters or undercover police desperate not to be discovered, there’s nothing more exciting than seeing characters’ lives and struggles when they’re on the wrong side of the law. Which should mean that Apple TV’s latest movie, “Wolfs” (2024), should scratch that particular itch. Right?
Written and directed by John Waters, the movie begins with a fixer known only as “Margret’s Man” (George Clooney) arriving at the scene of a New York City hotel suite after the city’s district attorney, Margaret (Amy Ryan), finds herself with the dead body of a male sex worker in her bedroom. Just as Clooney’s character is about to begin cleaning up the crime scene, another fixer, called “Pam’s Man” (Brad Pitt), shows up. It turns out that the hotel owner — the anonymous Pam — had a camera hidden in the hotel suite, and Pam’s Man arrives to ensure that Margret’s man sufficiently cleans up the crime scene and disposes of the body. Things become even more complicated when it’s revealed that the dead “Kid,” (Austin Abrams) is not only still alive, but is also a drug mule for the local Albanian mafia. In way too over their heads to back out, the two fixers must cooperate to solve the issue and get the job done.
“Wolfs” has been hotly anticipated by fans of Waters (famous for directing the Tom Holland Spiderman Trilogy), and the promise of seeing Clooney and Pitt in the same movie together was cause for excitement ever since their dynamite chemistry in “Ocean’s Thirteen” (2007).
However, when it was announced that the film would be an Apple TV exclusive, audiences and critics were skeptical of whether or not the movie was all it was cracked up to be.
So, is the movie any good?
While certainly not one of the hits of this year, “Wolfs” is still a pleasant experience from start to finish. The real selling point of the film is the performances, specifically from the two main leads. Clooney and Pitt, even when not giving a hundred and ten percent, are still a delight to see play off of each other, making for some great laughs as they attempt to outcompete each other. Clooney’s character clearly has more experience as a fixer, and thus is able to effectively clean up the mess left behind while Pitt snarks at him and puts his feet up. However, this contrasts with Pitt’s understated skill and talent in their mutual criminal line of work, which does prove valuable once the danger proceeds from the background to the center stage.
Aside from the performances, the production values of the film such as the cinematography, editing and set designs, help immerse the viewer in this gritty underworld while also giving the comedic elements more weight. Two particularly noteworthy sequences involve Margret’s Man showing off to Pam’s Man as he cleans up the crime scene while simultaneously moving the seemingly dead body to the trunk of his car, creating tension but also a sense of thrilling danger as he could be caught at any time by a witness. The other sequence involves a long and drawn-out chase sequence where both leads are attempting to chase after the Kid, who is suddenly very much alive and leading them on a chase across the concrete jungle of Harlem and Chinatown during a cold New York City winter. It’s the movie’s most memorable sequence, chiefly for its absurdity and the impressive stunts and choreography on display.
That said, the movie has some major flaws, such as the writing which includes a convoluted plot, and some scenes that add nothing to the movie and could’ve been removed entirely.
The aforementioned chase sequence is a good example of this really messy, even nonsensical, plot. The scene of Pitt chasing after a young man in his underwear across the snow-covered streets and alleyways of New York City neighborhoods while Clooney tries to drive around to intercept their fleeing quarry is, admittedly, very funny, but adds nothing to the overall plot, only included in the final product for the sake of eliciting a few laughs from the audience. This happens yet again with a scene involving retrieving a pager from a crowded party that both our leads insist they cannot be seen together inside of, only for both to proceed into said party and comically get caught not long after. Even when the movie winds down to explain the underlying plot and twist for the audience near the end, it breezes by so quickly that it will certainly leave both attentive critics and passive audiences scratching their heads and rewinding the movie just to understand it better.
“Wolfs” is not the success Waters, Clooney and Pitt wished it would be; however, that doesn’t mean the film is a dud by any means. It’s an entertaining crime thriller with comedic elements, good for a night in with some friends and family, especially during the winter.
Kelly Baker is an alumnus of West Chester University of Pennsylvania.