The Movie Guru: ‘Piece by Piece’ creative but shallow, while ‘Wolfs’ a playground for George Clooney and Brad Pitt
Universal Pictures/Courtesy photo
Piece by Piece (in theaters)
Not even a beautifully constructed Lego world can hide the fact that this is yet another celebrity biopic.
“Piece by Piece,” a Lego retelling of the life of Pharrell Williams, does use its medium to share some fun takes on the creative process. Ideas pop into being as glowing bubbles, Pharrell’s synesthesia is brought to brilliant life, and his childhood literally takes on the warm glow of memory. The medium is probably best served by the story of Pharrell coming up with his hit “Happy,” a story as cheerful as the medium telling it.
But all the flourishes in the world can’t hide the fact that this retelling of Pharrell’s life is painfully thin, with many of the more interesting bits skimmed over. It feels more like a story for kids, but with the amount of swearing in the movie kids are clearly not the target audience. You can do all the creative flourishes you want, but you also have to make sure the story is interesting.
What’s even more frustrating is you can see all the moments where it could have been interesting. Director Morgan Neville, the Oscar-winning director of “20 Feet From Stardom,” asks plenty of questions he clearly wants answers for. Unexpected gaps in Pharrell’s career, a rift with an early collaborator – filling in any of these gaps would create a much richer, more nuanced picture of how Pharrell got to where he is today. Instead, we’re only left with Neville’s questions.
Sadly, the movie can’t build its way out of that.
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Grade: Two stars
Wolfs (Apple TV+)
“Wolfs” knows exactly what the audience is here for.
The tale of two lone-wolf “fixers” who are forced to work together, the movie serves mostly as a playground for stars George Clooney and Brad Pitt to play off each other. It’s an onscreen reunion that hasn’t happened in more than a decade, and the two actors know exactly what they’re here for and are clearly enjoying themselves in the process. Though their exchanges don’t have the fizz and snap of the long-ago “Ocean’s 11” days, the two play together well enough to bring a surprising amount of verve to a so-so script. If you’re at all susceptible to their collective charms, that verve keeps things interesting enough to make you want to see where this is going.
Even more importantly, they keep the ride entertaining even though the movie itself doesn’t seem all that sure of what the destination is. The plot somehow manages to be both simplistic and meandering at the same time, and if it were anyone else in the lead no one would make it through the first half hour. Other than a few delightful moments with Austin Abrams as Clooney and Pitt’s temporary responsibility, the only thing really worth watching here are the two leads.
They are worth it, though. They take the so-so script and turn it into banter with an old friend, delivered with the charm and style that used to be part of what Hollywood meant in the first place. It’s almost impossible to find these days, and for that alone “Wolfs” is an unexpected pleasure.
Grade: Two and a half stars
Jenniffer Wardell is an award-winning movie critic and member of the Denver Film Critics Society. Find her on Twitter at @wardellwriter or drop her a line at themovieguruslc@gmail.com.
