Wolves

Featuring a breakout performance by Taylor John Smith, Wolves follows high-school basketball star Anthony Keller (Smith) as his efforts to impress a university scout are consistently foiled by a wide variety of personal issues – including a father (Michael Shannon’s Lee) with gambling and alcohol addictions and a girlfriend (Zazie Beetz) with problems of her own. There’s little doubt that Wolves fares best in its low-key yet generally compelling first half, as writer/director Bart Freundlich does an effective job of establishing the affable central character and his ongoing encounters and concerns – with the watchable vibe heightened by Smith’s strong work as the increasingly beleaguered Anthony (and it doesn’t hurt, certainly, that the actor’s been surrounded by a number of talented periphery players). It does become more and more clear, however, that there’s just not enough story here to sustain a 110 minute running time, as Freundlich delivers a distressingly uneventful and repetitive midsection that suffers from a growing lack of momentum – with the erratic atmosphere compounded by an occasionally stifling emphasis on basketball scenes (which ultimately aren’t as engrossing as Freundlich clearly believes them to be). The somewhat anticlimactic final stretch dulls the impact of the movie’s final moments, to be sure, and Wolves‘ is, despite Freundlich’s best intentions and efforts, simply unable to become the gripping drama one might’ve expected (and hoped for).

** out of ****