REVIEW: Wolfs [2024]

Rating: R | Runtime: 108 minutes
Release Date: September 20th, 2024 (USA)
Studio: Apple Studios
Director(s): Jon Watts
Writer(s): Jon Watts

Keep at it. You’ll crack it eventually.

The bus shelter posters and television commercials all tell us that the district attorney’s (Amy Ryan) re-election campaign slogan is “tough on crime.” So, it’s no surprise to meet her at the start of Jon Watts’ Wolfs dialing a number simply labeled as “[ ]” on her phone due to there being a dead co-ed laying naked on the floor of her hotel room. Do as I say, not as I do.

Who’s on the other end? A fixer (George Clooney). A man you can trust to ensure whatever incident he’s been called to take care of never actually happened (wink). There’s just one problem. Someone else called a different fixer (Brad Pitt) for the same job. Now these unknowing rivals are caught in a bit of a snafu. They can’t not finish the job considering their sterling reputations. But that same reputation also means they can’t be seen working together. So, they decide Clooney will do the job for his client and Pitt will make sure he does it correctly for his.

Except it’s not that easy once drugs are discovered, their best lead proves to be a scared and blitzed out kid (Austin Abrams) in way over his head, and the entire Balkan region is gearing up to kill whoever crosses their path. The only way out is to therefore pool their resources, become vulnerable enough to let some trade secrets out, and hope the other is as good as he thinks he is because their lives do depend on it. Will they become friends by the end? Will their bad backs survive all the heavy lifting, cardio, and bullets?

That’s pretty much the film in a nutshell. Saying more means going into details and those details are the fun part of watching. Yes, we’ve seen it before (unlikely partners who hate each other stuck working a job with an endearingly innocent hostage to help melt their cold hearts), but that doesn’t mean it isn’t still enjoyable. Clooney and Pitt could scowl less since its their charisma that made them movie stars, but their sarcasm and egos shine to keep the comedy going in even the direst of situations. And Watts is finally free from MCU servitude. That’s worth a smile in and of itself.

Anyone who says it’s a bust is a more self-serious buzzkill than these lead characters combined. Wolfs won’t be winning any Oscars, but it’s an entertaining lark with two game actors playing to their age despite their pedigree … not instead of it. Abrams is great. Ryan is the perfect entry point. And both Poorna Jagannathan and Zlatko Buric deliver memorable bit parts along the way. My only complaint would be that there wasn’t enough Richard Kind since everything else lives up to its promise of supplying a disposable laugh that hits the spot. Whether you ever think about it again afterwards doesn’t really matter.