''Wolves'' is a 2016 American
sports
Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
written and directed by
Bart Freundlich
Bartholomew Freundlich (born January 17, 1970) is an American film director, television director, screenwriter, and film producer.
Early life
Freundlich was born and raised in Manhattan, the son of Debbie, a marketing consultant, and Larry Freu ...
and starring
Michael Shannon
Michael Corbett Shannon (born August 7, 1974) is an American actor, producer, musician, and theater director. He is an off beat actor known for his on-screen versatility, performing in both comedies and dramas. He became known for his frequent ...
,
Carla Gugino
Carla Gugino (; born August 29, 1971) is an American actress. After appearing in ''Troop Beverly Hills'' (1989) and ''This Boy's Life'' (1993), she received recognition for her starring roles as Ingrid Cortez in the ''Spy Kids'' trilogy (2001â ...
,
Taylor John Smith
Taylor John Smith (born May 13, 1995) is an American actor. He is known for his role as John Keene in the series ''Sharp Objects (miniseries), Sharp Objects''. Notable films in which he has appeared are ''Wolves (2016 film), Wolves'' (2016), ''You ...
,
Chris Bauer
Mark Christopher Bauer (born October 28, 1966) is an American actor. He is best known for his television work in ''The Wire'', ''Third Watch'', ''True Blood'', ''Survivor's Remorse,'' '' The Deuce and'' the Apple TV+ original science fiction spac ...
and
John Douglas Thompson
John Douglas Thompson (born 1964) is an English-American actor. He is a Tony Award nominee and the recipient of two Drama Desk Awards, two Obie Awards, an Outer Critics Circle Award, and a Lucille Lortel Award.
''The New York Times'' critic B ...
. The film was released on March 3, 2017, by
IFC Films
IFC Films is an American film production and distribution company based in New York. It is an offshoot of IFC owned by AMC Networks. It distributes mainly independent films under its own name, select foreign films and documentaries under its S ...
.
Plot
Anthony is a standout player on his Manhattan high school's basketball team with seemingly everything going for him: a killer three-point shot, a loving girlfriend, and a chance at a scholarship to Cornell. But Anthony's dreams of playing college ball are jeopardized by his volatile father, a hard-drinking writer whose compulsive gambling threatens to derail the lives of both his wife and son.
Cast
*
Michael Shannon
Michael Corbett Shannon (born August 7, 1974) is an American actor, producer, musician, and theater director. He is an off beat actor known for his on-screen versatility, performing in both comedies and dramas. He became known for his frequent ...
as Lee Keller
*
Carla Gugino
Carla Gugino (; born August 29, 1971) is an American actress. After appearing in ''Troop Beverly Hills'' (1989) and ''This Boy's Life'' (1993), she received recognition for her starring roles as Ingrid Cortez in the ''Spy Kids'' trilogy (2001â ...
as Jenny Keller
*
Taylor John Smith
Taylor John Smith (born May 13, 1995) is an American actor. He is known for his role as John Keene in the series ''Sharp Objects (miniseries), Sharp Objects''. Notable films in which he has appeared are ''Wolves (2016 film), Wolves'' (2016), ''You ...
as Anthony Keller
*
Chris Bauer
Mark Christopher Bauer (born October 28, 1966) is an American actor. He is best known for his television work in ''The Wire'', ''Third Watch'', ''True Blood'', ''Survivor's Remorse,'' '' The Deuce and'' the Apple TV+ original science fiction spac ...
as Charlie
*
John Douglas Thompson
John Douglas Thompson (born 1964) is an English-American actor. He is a Tony Award nominee and the recipient of two Drama Desk Awards, two Obie Awards, an Outer Critics Circle Award, and a Lucille Lortel Award.
''The New York Times'' critic B ...
as Socrates
*
Zazie Beetz
Zazie Olivia Beetz ( ; ; born June 1, 1991) is a American actress. She stars in the FX comedy-drama series ''Atlanta'' (2016–22), for which she received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy ...
as Victoria
*
Jessica Rothe
Jessica Ann Rothenberg (born May 28, 1987), better known as Jessica Rothe (), is an American actress. She is known for her role in the MTV comedy series '' Mary + Jane'' (2016) and her lead role as Tree Gelbman in the comedy slasher film ''Happy D ...
as Lola
*
Wayne Duvall Wayne Duvall (born May 29, 1958) is an American actor known for appearing as Homer Stokes in ''O Brother, Where Art Thou?'', as well recurring roles as the television series ''Billions'', ''The District'', ''The Leftovers'', '' BrainDead'', ''The ...
as Coach Ray
*
Danny Hoch
Daniel Hoch (born November 23, 1970) is an American actor, writer, director and performance artist. He has acted in larger roles in independent and art house movies and had a few small roles in mainstream Hollywood films, with increasing expo ...
as Sean
* Noah Le Gros as Oliver
* Christopher Meyer as Hakim
* Richard Kohnke as Billy Dunn
* Harry Thomas as Finals Referee
Production
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...
began in June 2015.
Release
The film premiered at the
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by TriBeCa Productions, Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive progra ...
on April 15, 2016.
The film was released on March 3, 2017, by
IFC Films
IFC Films is an American film production and distribution company based in New York. It is an offshoot of IFC owned by AMC Networks. It distributes mainly independent films under its own name, select foreign films and documentaries under its S ...
.
Reception
Critical response
On
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film holds an approval rating of 36% based on 25 reviews, and an average rating of 4.8/10. On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the film has a weighted average score of 46 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
See also
*
List of basketball films
This is a list of films about basketball, featuring notable films where basketball plays a central role in the development of the plot.
List
See also
* List of sports films
* List of highest-grossing sports films
References
{{Sports films ...
References
External links
*
*
*
2016 films
2010s sports drama films
American sports drama films
Films directed by Bart Freundlich
2016 drama films
Films about gambling
2016 independent films
2010s English-language films
2010s American films
{{2010s-drama-film-stub