Susan Granger’s review of “Wolfs” (Sony/Apple TV+)
In “Wolfs,” George Clooney and Brad Pitt play rival underworld ‘fixers’ who must reluctantly work together to clean up a crime scene at a posh New York City hotel. This buddy/action dramedy was originally supposed to have a major theatrical release but plans obviously changed.
Written and directed by Jon Watts (“Spider-Man: No Way Home”), it’s certainly not a thriller and not exactly a comedy, although Clooney and Pitt obviously find it somewhat amusing.
Like most police procedurals, the plot begins with a body sprawled on the floor surrounded by blobs of blood. A local district attorney (Amy Ryan) booked a hotel room to frolic with a younger man who may or may not have been a prostitute. Somehow he fell off the bed, cracked his head on a glass table and, apparently, died.
Desperate, she finds a number on her iPhone and when it’s answered says, “I was told if I ever need serious help to call this number,” adding, “There is only one man in the city who can do what you do.”
Soon a discreet ‘fixer’ (Clooney) arrives on the scene and gets to work with garbage bags and duct tape. He’s interrupted by the arrival of another ‘fixer’ (Pitt) summoned by the proprietor worried that scandal could taint the hotel’s reputation.
These two unnamed ‘fixers’ eye each other suspiciously, bickering and bantering before actually removing the body and attempting to dispose of it, along with a stash of drugs tucked in a backpack behind a sofa.
Complications mount as the supposed corpse revives. He’s a curious kid (Austin Abrams) who may or may not have been involved with an Albanian cartel. Lacking a cohesive plot, there are too many chases, including a tediously tiresome one that begins in neon-lit Chinatown and ends near the Brooklyn Bridge.
The New York Times reported that Clooney and Pitt banked $35 million each for their participation but Clooney dismissed that figure at a Venice Film Festival press conference although the Times sticks by its reporting.
On the Granger Gauge of 1to 10, “Wolfs” is a frustrating, forgettable 5, streaming on Apple TV+.
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