George Clooney and Brad Pitt reunite in darkly madcap comedy-thriller Wolfs, an Apple Original Film that started streaming on Apple TV+ Friday. For those who love to see modern takes on classic Hollywood vehicles where stars pretty much play themselves — and for anyone who just wants a good popcorn flick with lots of gunplay and humor — there’s no shortage of reasons to watch Wolfs. But those same traits may deter others, of course.
3 reasons to watch (or avoid) Wolfs on Apple TV+
Wolfs, written and directed by Jon Watts (Spider-Man trilogy) features Clooney and Pitt as two professional “fixers,” or “cleaners,” hired to deal with the same mess. A New York City district attorney (Amy Ryan) finds herself in a posh hotel room with an apparently dead young man who may or may not be a sex worker. She calls for help from shady sources, and for reasons that unravel slowly and raise questions, not one but two unrealistically handsome older dudes in leather jackets show up to do the job.
The big joke stretched throughout the film is that these two self-important, “no one can do what I do” pros have to tolerate each other until the job is done. And plenty interferes with that job getting done, from chasing a tighty-whitey-wearing kid through a wintery New York City night to dodging bullets from Croatian gangsters. Sure, the plot stretches credulity here and there, but the film is mostly a good time. And that’s even as it’s literally and figuratively a bit dark — not to mention a throwback to old-school Hollywood.
1. You love George Clooney and/or Brad Pitt.
The top reason to watch this movie is that it’s all about its stars, like how old Hollywood used to roll. These stylish millionaire heartthrobs, Clooney and Pitt, show up and pretty much play themselves, nodding and winking as they go. It might even remind you a bit of one of their previous collaborations, the Ocean’s 11 series, though this one has a darker edge. It finds a notably colder breeze in its dark alleys.
The whole film is crafted around the pair’s unwilling partnership. That goes from indignant contempt upon meeting to building one-upsmanship over the course of the night to grudging admiration before what could be dawn’s final reckoning.
In other words, the movie feeds the audience just what it wants. Both stars get good lines. And the movie and its beloved stars walk a bit of a dark line, given the subject matter, and right in time with what’s considered acceptable in a “comedy.” Will George really shoot that poor kid, repeatedly mistaken for a strung-out sex worker, in the back of the head? Is this whole convoluted ordeal just about “cleaning up” these two veteran cleaners because they know too much? And will there really be a sequel to this thing? Well, you’ll have to see (except for that last one — a sequel got the green light before Wolfs even debuted).
2. You like your film references mostly on the nose.
As Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is to Robert Redford and Paul Newman, Wolfs wishes to be to Clooney and Pitt. In fact, Wolfs makes this incredibly obvious by the last frame, unmistakable to any movie buff as an obvious homage.
But that’s not Wolfs‘ only film reference, and some are more subtle than others. For example, is the title “Wolfs” just from the phrase “lone wolves,” or is also a nod to Harvey Keitel’s cleaner character in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction (1994)? That would be Winston Wolfe, aka “Wolf.” He’s a solitary, debonair fixer in exactly Wolfs‘ vein, though in splashier Tarantino style. So in Watts’ Clooney-Pitt caper, “Wolf” becomes Wolfs.
And Wolfs‘ plot unfolding over the course of one exhausting NYC night pays respect to Martin Scorsese’s After Hours, as the director has mentioned.
Photo: Apple
3. You just want an engrossing popcorn movie, not an intellectual challenge (and the supporting cast has to deliver, too).
When all is said and done, I predict this movie will rate reasonably well with critics and better with fans. It’s dark, stylish and funny. It pushes two mega-stars and enough twists and turns to keep you interested without much, if any, confusion. You might wonder if all of the theories the two fixers cook up to explain why all of this is happening to them really hold water. But that’s what the movie wants you to do. In the end, you’re supposed to be entertained, not prepared to make a court case. And you walk away with a few questions holding you over until the sequel comes out.
But another crucial element to any good movie, popcorn or otherwise, is worth mentioning. Supporting players have to do a great job — and here they do. Ryan (Sugar) seems credible as the compromised and mortified DA. But the premise that she just happened to get a room on a whim with a much younger man she just met seems like a stretch. And yet the much younger man — Austin Abrams (Euphoria) — turns out to be one of the best things about Wolfs. He runs through a cold-and-wet New York night in his undies like a champ, and he steals the show from the big boys in at least one scene (featuring a babbling confession under duress in a seedy hotel room with a jungle safari theme).
And it doesn’t end there. Frances McDormand plays a significant role by voice alone, as the all-seeing hotel manager. And if only more of Richard Kind as the kid’s Sinatra-loving dad could have been in this thing.
Watch the Wolfs trailer
Watch Wolfs on Apple TV+
The service is available by subscription for $9.99 with a seven-day free trial. You can also get it via any tier of the Apple One subscription bundle. For a limited time, customers who purchase and activate a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Mac or iPod touch can enjoy three months of Apple TV+ for free.
After launching in November 2019, “Apple TV+ became the first all-original streaming service to launch around the world, and has premiered more original hits and received more award recognitions faster than any other streaming service. To date, Apple Original films, documentaries and series [scored] 515 wins and 2,308 award nominations and counting,” the service said.
In addition to award-winning movies and TV shows (including breakout soccer comedy Ted Lasso), Apple TV+ offers a variety of documentaries, dramas, comedies, kids shows and more.
