The boys are back! Sure, the (nearly) 61 year-old Brad Pitt and the 63 year-old George Clooney hardly qualify as “boys” anymore, but their reunion in Jon Watts’ crime-caper Wolfs is still welcome. Their easy charm and almost telepathic on-screen chemistry elevate this amiable romp.
I’m going out on a limb and suggest Watts (Spider-Man: No Way Home) is a fan of one Mr Quentin Tarantino. The biggest clue I think is in the title. You’ll notice it’s “Wolfs” not “Wolves”. Why? Well, if you recall, the “cleaner” in Pulp Fiction (played by Harvey Keitel) was called The Wolf. So since both the protagonists here are “cleaners” in the same vein, it makes sense that this is a riff on Tarantino. But there are many other clues as well, including a now-almost-mandatory diner scene, mysterious drugs and near-death experiences.
In Wolfs, we never find out the names of the two main characters – they’re referred to only as Margaret’s Man (Clooney) and Pam’s Man (Pitt). Margaret (Amy Ryan) is a tough-on-crime DA who has taken a young man – known only as the Kid (Austin Abrams) – to a swanky hotel room. But while shenanigans are happening, the Kid falls and seemingly dies. Frantic, Margaret calls her Man, who calmly advises her what to do. When he arrives in the room, it looks like a routine “clean” – until Pam’s Man arrives. Pam is the owner of the hotel, and a hidden surveillance camera has captured the whole thing. With potentially conflicting interests in play, Margaret and Pam agree that their “Men” must work together on the clean-up. Neither Man is keen on that idea – they work alone, don’t you know. But when the women make them an offer they can’t refuse, they reluctantly agree.
Things though take a more dangerous turn when the Men discover a backpack full of drugs in the hotel room. They decide to deal with the situation as efficiently as possible. They wrap the Kid in plastic and smuggle the package to the car park. But it gets even weirder when the Kid wakes up. Now the job is very different from what either “cleaner” anticipated.
Watts also wrote the script and it hits a few familiar beats. It has a bit of a third act problem, in that the resolution of the plot isn’t particularly clear. I struggled to follow even the characters’ belated explanation of it in the coda. But this isn’t a movie that’s big on careful plot development. It’s all about mood and feel. But Watts does mood and feel well, aided tremendously by the talents of the two leads.
Clooney and Pitt don’t disappoint. The kind of symbiotic relationship they displayed in Ocean’s Eleven and its sequels is back. It’s almost like Danny Ocean and Rusty Ryan wandered away from the Ocean’s movies and have somehow found their way into this movie. The knowing looks, the sly banter, the wise cracks – they’re all here. And the combination is just as good as it ever was – maybe even better.
Against these two powerhouses, the remainder of the cast are a little sidelined. But I did enjoy Austin Abrams (Euphoria) as the Kid – he’s a talent to watch. Amy Ryan (Beau is Afraid) has some nice moments in the early scenes, as does Poorna Jagannathan (Never Have I Ever) in the middle section. But this is very much the Pitt and Clooney show.
Although it wasn’t exactly what I was expecting, I enjoyed Wolfs a lot. This is a breezy crime-comedy that ticks a lot of boxes. In a way, you could think of it as Tarantino-lite – and I’m sure Jon Watts would be pleased with the comparison.
David Edwards
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David Edwards is the editor of The Blurb and a contributor on film and television