WOLFS (2024)

This hurts. Great premise, two marquee dramatic/comedic masters settling into midlife, and me, hoping for two wolfs at the door. Sadly, Wolfs is a corny mess in need of a cleanup. Brad Pitt and George Clooney are thrown together to “fix” a very bad night for a hot shot Manhattan district attorney (Amy Ryan), who employs Clooney to get rid of a body from her $10K/a night hotel room in order to safeguard her reputation, with Pitt mixed in to do the same for the brand new luxury accommodation. I’m in.

Sadly, neither star makes the effort to create any semblance of a character beyond their patented arrogant/self-effacing manner, which by the way I usually love, but here it rings both tired and juvenile. Not that this type of movie really needs more than a superficial character journey, still it insists on tacking on a melodramatic change of heart that is both telegraphed and disingenuous. I did however chuckle at Clooney’s running complaint about his bad back (he’s too old for this shit!). Tag along “kid” (Austin Abrams) is a delight, but the plot is too simple, until it’s not and then we’re all supposed to go along with an impossible hoodwinking as if this were Oceans Two. It’s not.

WATCH OR NOT: NOT

Additional musings: Truth be told, I would watch Brad Pitt and George Clooney watch paint dry. Hopefully the next outing hurts less.