WOLFS: two charming stars and a chase

Photo caption: George Clooney and Brad Pitt in WOLFS. Courtesy of Columbia Pictures.

The crime comedy Wolfs is about the job of fixer, the guy you call when somebody has OD’d in your hotel room and you need someone to clean up the scene as if it had never happened (think Harvey Keitel’s The Wolf in Pulp Fiction). The premise of Wolfs is that TWO fixers are called to the same scene. Both are highly skilled professionals, paranoid, have big egos and are used to working alone. They are also super cool and played by George Clooney and Brad Pitt.

They bicker and posture, and, as they go about their job, circumstances make the situation more dangerous and desperate. Plenty of laughs follow, along with an excellent and imaginative nighttime chase through NYC.

Wolfs is all about the plot and the charm of its stars – it’s really just disposable entertainment. That’s not bad, because it doesn’t take itself too seriously and it’s well-crafted for what it is. It doesn’t take itself very seriously. The last two minutes is an unmistakable homage to to a very popular 1969 movie.

Some really fine actors show up in very small roles: Amy Ryan, Richard Kind and Zlatko Buric (so good in Triangle of Sadness). There’s a very funny performance by Austin Abrams as a slacker piñata in way over his head.

Wolfs is streaming on AppleTV.