Brad Pitt and George Clooney’s star power supercharges the Watts-age of writer-director of Jon Watts’ entertaining Wolfs at the Venice Film Festival.
The spelling of the title feels almost like the filmmakers are deliberately trying to wind up the audience. Yet it is clearly a play on the term popularised in the cinematic consciousness by Winston “The Wolf” Wolfe. Harvey Keitel’s fixer and problem solver from Pulp Fiction.
These characters are typically the lone wolf-type, but fate brings two together when Amy Ryan’s District Attorney accidentally ends up with the dead body of a young man, who is definitely not a prostitute, on a hotel room floor.
Like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, this is a love story disguised as an action comedy thriller.
The accidental double booking is essentially the meet-cute for the two Wolfs. Destiny plays its part in keeping them together over one increasingly wild night, escalated by the discovery that the dead body is actually not so dead and carrying a lot of drugs belonging to some dangerous people.
Pushed into the arms of each other by the manically sweet Austin Abrams (Euphoria), Pitt and Clooney prove the perfect pairing. Abrams asks them how long they have been partners and it is clear that they have lost none of that chemistry they shared in Ocean’s Eleven. Yes, they may bicker and playfully jab at each other as they try to work out how this relationship is going to work, but it is clear they are destined to be together. They are an old married couple combined with screwball comedy romance protagonists. A modern day Butch and Sundance. Their performances here are the definition of “movie star”.
The film is slick, well-polished and most importantly fun. The dialogue and interplay between the two fixers is whipsmart, and would play very well with a Friday night crowd at the cinema. Based on the evidence at the press and industry screening at least, who are typically a tougher nut to crack.
That is why it does feel like a slight waste that after a minimal week long run in “select” cinemas (whatever that means), it will be discovered by audiences on Apple TV, if the algorithm allows of course. Clooney and Pitt reportedly got paid $35 million EACH, and it feels like cutting off your nose to spite your face. Just 23 years ago, the notion of seeing these two actors star opposite each other would guarantee a huge box office return, as evidenced by the success of the Ocean’s trilogy.
Rumours swirling the Lido suggest that Apple are keen to already commission a sequel, and it is not hard to see why. This movie will leave you wanting more and Hungry Like The Wolfs.
Wolfs will premiere globally on Apple TV+ on September 27
Rating: 
Director: Jon Watts
Stars: Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Amy Ryan, Austin Abrams
Runtime: 108 minutes
Country: USA
