Yes, mostly positive. Coming from Spider-Man Home trilogy director Jon Watts, the Apple TV movie Wolfs has marked George Clooney and Brad Pitt’s 23-year onscreen collaboration. The movie has got quite a prominent buzz for the inherent nature of the ambitious project which has two industry A-listers in the primary roles. The action comedy has now made a decent Rotten Tomatoes debut with a 73% positive Tomatometer score following its premiere at the Venice Film Festival.
What Is Wolfs About?
George Clooney and Brad Pitt’s action comedy Wolfs is all set for spectacle which will have a short theatrical run to debut on Apple TV+ later. Clooney plays a professional fixer hired to cover up a high-profile crime. But when a second fixer (Pitt) shows up and the two “lone wolves” are forced to work together, they find their night spiraling out of control in ways that neither one of them expected,” as per the official synopsis.
Written, produced, and directed by Jon Watts, the movie was a gamble as he turned his back on the Spider-Man franchise making this ambitious project. “For these two too-cool-for-school guys, what would burst their bubble more than meeting someone that’s basically exactly like them?” Watts said of the movie (via THR).
But how did he manage to bring two industry veterans on board? “It was a very easy pitch to George: It’s like two Michael Claytons,” the director of pitching the idea of the movie to Clooney via Zoom. But the cautionary message from Clooney and the movie’s producing partner Grant Heslov stole the sleep of the director. “Brad’s going to be tough. He’s very picky about his projects.’ [Clooney] is like, ‘You really want to have this really dialed in when you pitch to Brad.’”
“Two fixers. Same job. I get it, man,” Watts recalled Pitt’s response and the very next day on a Zoom call. He also refused to hear the pitch, “Nah. George told me the whole thing. It’ll be fun. Let’s do it.” Clooney had called Pitt the day before. “And that was my pitch to Brad Pitt,” Watts added. Soon, he realized that “They were just f*cking with me from the beginning.”
What Critics Are Saying About Wolfs?
From the initial 11 reviews, the movie managed a decent Rotten Tomatoes score but not all reviews are inherently positive. Greg Nussen from Slant Magazine wrote, “The witty repartee between Clooney and Pitt feels like the only thing holding the film together.”
The Film Stage critic Luke Hicks said the movie is “a fast-fading star of a film that burns out much too soon.” IGN Movies’ Siddhant Adlakha describes “Wolfs [has] the feel of a slick student film from a rich teen who’s subsisted on a media diet of early Guy Ritchie.”
But with fewer negative reviews, Wolfs has also impressed critics who showered positive comments on the ambitious project. “So what if there are silly and not thoroughly thought out plot points in ‘Wolfs?’ Sometimes, all you need is star power and a lot of laughs to have a good time. That’s precisely what you get with this easy, breezy comedy,” Ema Sasic from Next Best Picture wrote.
Dallas King from Flick Feast wrote stating that “Brad Pitt and George Clooney’s star power supercharges Jon Watts’ entertaining Wolfs. Like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, this is a love story disguised as an action comedy thriller. The film is slick, well-polished and most importantly fun.”
The Film Verdict’s Alonso Duralde said, “And if doing a bit of genre fluff recharges their batteries for whatever serious-minded projects they have in waiting, well, movies that are far less entertaining have been made for far worse reasons.”
Wolfs will make its theatrical debut on September 20 and hit Apple TV+ just a week later.
