Writer/Director Jon Watts' "Wolfs" is a by-the-numbers caper flick. Even so, I caught myself smiling from time to time while observing the goings-on.

The film opens with a woman's screams. Turns out, she's a District Attorney in an opulent hotel suite. There's smashed furniture all around her and an inert male body on the floor. She makes a call and George Clooney arrives to make it all go away. He's a "cleaner" or "fixer" who specializes in helping the problems of the wealthy and well-connected magically disappear. Early on, Clooney informs her that "there's nobody who can do what I do." But moments later, there's a knock at the door. Brad Pitt has arrived to provide the same "cleaning" service, because the owner of the hotel (a voiceover by Frances McDormand) has seen everything on a hidden camera.

After initial introductions, there's plenty to keep the moviegoer occupied: bricks of cocaine (or perhaps some other "magic drug"), Albanian mobsters and a 20something slacker literally running around New York City in his underwear. You know, the usual.

Several elements make this film a pleasure. First, Pitt and Clooney recapture the magic of their numerically identified "Oceans" series. They banter. They grumble. With stylish feigned indifference, they try to one-up each other. But each also appears increasingly desperate for his counterpart's approval. Because they are both in their sixties, they grunt when they bend over to pick up bodies or other heavy objects. They share a touching scene involving a bottle of Advil.

Composer Theodore Schapiro's ("The Devil Wears Prada") music is another plus, underscoring the proceedings with a jazz-inflected, irresistible sense of cool. (Think understated "Get Shorty" soundtrack.) By the time we hear snippets from Sade's "Smooth Operator," we've realized the music here is a star in its own right.

There's a very strong supporting cast. Amy Ryan's District Attorney is compellingly distraught. Austin Abrams (Kid) is equal parts goofy and insightful. At one point, he eyes Pitt and Clooney and says, "You're basically the same guy." Poorna Jagannathan ("Never Have I Ever") and Richard Kind are marvelous. In an admirable dramatic stretch, Croatian actor Zlatko Buric is believable as an Albanian mobster.

The most redeeming part of the film is that Clooney and Pitt seem entirely comfortable exploring the boundaries, and perhaps the expiration date, of their long-running roles as macho male action stars. As they preen to impress each other, both appear entirely self-aware. On another level, they also seem to enjoy poking and prodding their own public personas.

This film is recommended for action fans, with one stipulation. In return for this endorsement, Pitt and Clooney must agree to take time out of their busy schedules to stage an intervention with Liam Neeson and explain that "action hero" and "septuagenarian" should not appear in the same sentence.

Margaret (Amy Ryan) is the city DA with a problem. She brought a non-prostitute (Austin Abrams) back to her hotel room and he apparently died. She calls a special number for a fixer (George Clooney). It turns out that the hotel manager had also called in her cleaner (Brad Pitt).

This is some fun with a crime thriller. The meat and potatoes of this is watching Clooney and Pitt playing off of each other. While it's fun, they've done this before and this is old hat for the guys. I would have liked to keep Amy Ryan around, but they do replace her with an Austin Abrams. There is a really fun chase in the middle. For most of the movie, I am trying to figure out the situation like Clooney. In the end, my problem is that I don't understand the whole scheme. The boys seem to yadayada the thing whether we understand it or not. I am not convinced by it. This is nevertheless some good light fun, but it won't be remembered as anything in the future.

Learnt that this movie (Pitt and Clooney) could be watched on Apple TV, sure will take the chance to watch. But I think it is similar to to other movie with super stars but could be watched through streaming, most of the cost may have gone to the salary of the stars and so the budget for other things, especially the plot, suffered. The start of the story is a bit new, where both of them were employed to clean things up in emergency but they worked for different parties this time. And they needed to co-operate to cover a corpse (though it sooned is not) case in one night and the things about different gangsters were involved. However some conversations were too long and bored, and the chasing is not exciting enough as well. Seems it is a happy ending that the gangsters were killed and the boy delivered the thing finally. But when they were chatting in the shop at last, they discussed and found that they fell in the trap by Amy Ryan! (But that was just talk and talk and I dun think it could be considered as a twist) And they were chased again and let's see if they could survive...They played hard but the plot is just too weak for them...