Wolfs (2024)
September 29, 2024 2:41 PM - Subscribe
Hired to cover up a high-profile crime, a fixer (George Clooney) soon finds his night spiralling out of control when he's forced to work with an unexpected counterpart (Brad Pitt). Now streaming on AppleTV.
It was obvious to me that this new "Crime Comedy" is a mediocre piece of junk from its very first scene when frantic Amy Ryan kept hysterically talking to herself, and from when her "fixer" arrives, and finds a cliched parking spot right in front of her posh NYC hotel…
It's a low-rent, uninspired, boring 'Michael Clayton' clone about a 'Cleaner', where even the Croatian folk dancing scene felt forced and joyless. Like a copy of a copy of a copy, degraded through the endless, talent-less story-telling. 3/10.
posted by growabrain at 3:58 PM on September 29 [2 favorites]
It's a low-rent, uninspired, boring 'Michael Clayton' clone about a 'Cleaner', where even the Croatian folk dancing scene felt forced and joyless. Like a copy of a copy of a copy, degraded through the endless, talent-less story-telling. 3/10.
posted by growabrain at 3:58 PM on September 29 [2 favorites]
I think calling it mediocre is being kind. The kid is by far the best actor in it. The other 2 burnouts should have stayed at home.
posted by night_train at 6:31 AM on September 30 [1 favorite]
posted by night_train at 6:31 AM on September 30 [1 favorite]
This was pretty bad on the whole, although all the same I mostly enjoyed watching it? It's incredibly derivative, uninspired, the leads (especially Clooney) feel like they're phoning it in, nothing about it makes a ton of sense, but all the same it was watchable. Like if it was a TV show I'd not have been mad with this as a two episode arc.
posted by dis_integration at 12:16 PM on September 30 [3 favorites]
posted by dis_integration at 12:16 PM on September 30 [3 favorites]
Personally, I enjoyed this one, even if I was a bit confused at the end with the exposition dump. Was it great? Obviously not.
However, it was fun and more than a bit silly. Plus, I thought George Clooney and Brad Pitt played against each other very well. If the goal was to make a action comedy that makes a couple of hours pass by and doesn't have plot holes so bad that your brain can't let go enough to actually watch what's happening then I think that Wolfs met that goal.
In short, competent. Not Oscar worthy, but not everything has to be.
It came out better than The Instigators did, anyway. I watched that one just after Wolfs and while I'd call it broadly similar in concept (get a couple of previously loved actors back together for a rerun of the kind of thing they were once famous for) it didn't turn out quite as well despite very obviously taking itself much less seriously.
posted by wierdo at 9:37 PM on September 30 [1 favorite]
However, it was fun and more than a bit silly. Plus, I thought George Clooney and Brad Pitt played against each other very well. If the goal was to make a action comedy that makes a couple of hours pass by and doesn't have plot holes so bad that your brain can't let go enough to actually watch what's happening then I think that Wolfs met that goal.
In short, competent. Not Oscar worthy, but not everything has to be.
It came out better than The Instigators did, anyway. I watched that one just after Wolfs and while I'd call it broadly similar in concept (get a couple of previously loved actors back together for a rerun of the kind of thing they were once famous for) it didn't turn out quite as well despite very obviously taking itself much less seriously.
posted by wierdo at 9:37 PM on September 30 [1 favorite]
This isn't at all great, but Pitt and Clooney coasting on charm is still a pretty okay time. And Austin Abrams is hilarious. The Butch Cassidy style ending didn't work though.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:08 AM on October 2
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:08 AM on October 2
It definitely falls in the category of streaming movies with attractive people being charming for 2 hours (see also Ryan Reynolds' filmography on Netflix). I enjoyed it and was also confused by the expodump at the end. I get there was some sort of conspiracy happening and they were being set up, but couldn't follow the details.
posted by TwoWordReview at 12:23 PM on October 2
posted by TwoWordReview at 12:23 PM on October 2
If the wolfs were being set up, everything depended on the kid getting hurt and the DA calling a cleaner, which would mean they were in on it.
Of course, the movie plot still mostly works if you assume the wolfs didn’t really understand what was going on and are just low level joes with delusions of significance.
On the whole, I preferred the Instigators. This movie had some funny dialogue but it never seemed to cohere into a story, seemingly on purpose.
posted by cardboard at 7:06 PM on October 4
Of course, the movie plot still mostly works if you assume the wolfs didn’t really understand what was going on and are just low level joes with delusions of significance.
On the whole, I preferred the Instigators. This movie had some funny dialogue but it never seemed to cohere into a story, seemingly on purpose.
posted by cardboard at 7:06 PM on October 4
having found the title very annoying before having set eyes on this film, well I was not surprised to find the film itself equally stupid. do Clooney and Pitt really need a new vanity pic, or the money? this was so weak. Clooney at least does this sort of role well, but I thought Pitt was very weak in comparison, over-done, campy. the plot was stupid, the dialog was substandard.
the comparisons to Michael Clayton kinda bum me out because I love that movie and its so very very good, but the comparison is apt.
posted by supermedusa at 8:37 AM on October 7
the comparisons to Michael Clayton kinda bum me out because I love that movie and its so very very good, but the comparison is apt.
posted by supermedusa at 8:37 AM on October 7
It's a cute little movie. For a definition of cute that includes the unflattering side of it.
There is a lot of assumption of the vibe, that you LOVE these guys, and you love the idea of them interacting and arguing about stuff and becoming friends etc. You like the idea of Clooney being clever, so he gets some dialogue that seems snappy and clever, or kind of refers to the idea of being clever. It's not actually clever enough though, and there's not much else in it.
posted by fleacircus at 6:57 PM on October 19 [1 favorite]
There is a lot of assumption of the vibe, that you LOVE these guys, and you love the idea of them interacting and arguing about stuff and becoming friends etc. You like the idea of Clooney being clever, so he gets some dialogue that seems snappy and clever, or kind of refers to the idea of being clever. It's not actually clever enough though, and there's not much else in it.
posted by fleacircus at 6:57 PM on October 19 [1 favorite]
Actually, I'm with weirdo on this -- and it's a total lagniappe be able to say that. It had its moments. And once it started, stopping was out of the question. I've wasted time on far worse.
posted by y2karl at 8:53 PM on December 1
posted by y2karl at 8:53 PM on December 1
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Although Clooney was right: the trick with the luggage cart was pretty cool. Reminds me of how we learned to flip an inverted life raft during STCW safety at sea training.
posted by autopilot at 2:47 PM on September 29 [1 favorite]