Wolves

Name: Wolves
Director: Bart Freundlich
Released: 2016

Bart Freundlich

2016

Synopsis

Anthony Keller, star of his NYC high school basketball team, is riding his way to Cornell on a sports scholarship. But he can only maintain his popular jock facade for so long, as his troubled father Lee has a gambling addiction that threatens to derail his dreams both on and off the court.

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Recommendations

70
We Got This Covered
Buoyed by a strong cast, Wolves is a predictable yet powerful film that uses its multitude of sports movie and coming-of-age cliches to the best possible effect.
50
The A.V. Club
Most of the cast does a fine job of turning this hooey into something serviceable.
50
The New York Times
The actors do nice work before things derail.
50
Los Angeles Times
There’s plenty of predatory behavior on display in the impressively acted Wolves, a curious if unsuccessful cross-breeding of gritty domestic drama with conventional coming-of-age sports crowd-rouser.
50
Village Voice
There's real turmoil in Freundlich's script (abuse, a crumbling marriage, pregnancy) but the problems sometimes seem tacked on for added crisis.
50
The Hollywood Reporter
The film conjures a strong sense of atmosphere, with the gritty NYC locations — yes, there are still some in the gentrified city — well captured by cinematographer Juanmil Azpiroz. And the performances are first-rate.... But by the time it reaches its hoary climax...Wolves has reached such an absurd level of schmaltz that it practically feels like a parody of itself.
50
Screen Daily
Save the highly predictable decider, the on-court battles are satisfyingly fast and fierce, but the tension they generate is undercut by the labored Oedipal melodrama that contains them.
50
Variety
It’s a showcase for some fine acting and even finer basketball action, but neither are enough to cover for this story’s enervating formulaic construction.