Wolf (1994)

A sophisticated horror film

Good cast, Nicholson and Pfeiffer were both good, Spader was hot and I'm always a fan of Eileen Atkins and Kate Nelligan.

I liked the first 1/2. I didn’t like that they turned him into an actual wolf. Should have been a metaphor instead.

David Hyde Pierce was hot too

Not a bad movie at all and seems like a masterpiece compared to movies from the last ten years. It was largely dismissed at the time of its release.

Michelle Pfeiffer looked amazing at the end in her black turtleneck

Another great Morricone score.

Loved it. Highly underrated.

James Spader looked gay lol

R3 I agree. The first hour is great.

Creepy movie

A gem compared to most werewolf movies.

It is a sad movie

Pfeiffer was affected and mannered in the movie. Sharon Stone was almost cast. Would have been a more interesting foil for nicholson.

Sharon Stone would have been great in this.

Jack Nicholson was miscast too

No he was not.

Sharon Stone is never actually "great" in anything.

She took a very small amount of talent a very long distance.

R18 she has a great presence, voice and charisma for days. It wasn’t exactly a demanding role - she could have done well and I agree may have been better suited.

Also agree the first half was interesting but second half was awful. Never a desire to see it again.

Nicholson’s VF interview promoting that movie was…interesting.

To be honest, I never got the appeal of Jack Nicholson. Like him having this supposed intense, animalistic energy. All I saw was a deranged psychopath repeating his "Here's Johnny!" act from The Shining. To me, he was boring and one note.

Is Jack still circling the drain?

I think Jack was great as an actor because he had that mix of being sensitive and funny and boorish and sexy. The film is pretty silly with the Rick Baker make-ups but I love James Spader in it and the end with the extreme closeups of Pfeiffer and the music.

R22 I hate to quote a movie (especially a Nancy Meyers movie) but there’s a line from STGG “he’s soulful when you least expect it.” I think that’s really hits the nail on the head in terms of both his appeal and his power as an actor. And he really WAS one of the great actors, sorry DL.

I fell asleep watching this movie IIRC.

Horrible film. How and why did Nichols direct THIS? Jack, insufferable as always, playing JACK. Total waste of Pfeiffer in her prime.

R25 the film has a great director, a talented cast, a good score, and a famous make up artist.

The sum is less than the parts

My partner was an extra for the scenes in the mansion. He said Christopher Plummer was an insufferable prick.

THis was a lampooning of the publishing industry. Having said that, I did love it.I took it at face value and loved it. James Spader was wonderful.Everyone was actually.

R27 really? That goes against everything I have heard and read about. Maybe he was in character?

r27 = Kevin Spacey

R14, I think that was the characters facade to guard her vulnerability and what Michelle does so well is steadily break it down so we can see the complexity of this woman and why she initially was so stiff and cold.

Apparently, there were a lot of behind the scenes problems with this film and the studio forced Nichols to make it more outrageous with the make-up effects and the SFX in reshoots. Pfeiffer apparently demanded to have much more “agency” in her role than what was written and Elaine May is responsible for a lot of that, though supposedly a plethora of uncredited writers took a pass on the script. Also, I believe this was done during the period in which Nichols was smoking copious amounts of crack (not kidding) according to the excellent recent Mark Harris biography of him. It’s a much better film than it was given credit for being at the time, a strong early performance from David Hyde Pierce in a supporting role if I remember correctly, as well. It’s definitely worth another look, lo, nearly 30 years later.

talented people on both sides of the camera and the result is barely mediocre and forgettable.

btw I seem to remember hearing that Mia Farrow had originally been cast

Maybe Nicholson and Nichols shouldn't've worked together? I found [italic]Heartburn[/italic] literally forgettable. I tried telling a friend about the movie I had just seen. All I could remember was which theater I had seen it at.

Mandy Patinkin was famously hired and then fired from Heartburn due to his equally famous “proclivities” and over the top method acting. Jack Nicholson stepped in within days and did it as a favor to Nichols along with a gigantic paycheck since they had an excellent working relationship having done Carnal Knowledge years before.

Well, [italic]Carnal Knowledge[/italic] was not forgettable. IIRC, some critics lauded it. I hated it so much I never finished it.

Mike Nichols directed Jack Nicholson in four major feature films - Carnal Knowledge, The Fortune, Heartburn and Wolf - and they also worked together in early stages of other films and potential casting for them; perhaps stay away from those, but Wolf was anything but an anomaly as far as Nichols/Nicholson goes in film history.

I like Wolf. I think Nicholson's greatest role was in Cuckoo's Nest and he deserved the Oscar. I'll always love the Juicy Fruit scene.

I think Mia was a friend of Nichols and he wanted her for the Kate Nelligan wife role but it is a small part.

I LOVE Wolf and genuinely think it’s pretty underrated. Top notch performances that Nichols (as usual) gets out of his great actors. I really love the mood and tone that Nichols guides us through and how he builds the movie to something bigger than the sum of its parts.

Read the books about him (Psychological Realism and Cinema of Transformation) to get an idea of the layers of complexity he brings to Wolf and his other works.

I saw this in the movies at the time and it is one I don’t wish to revisit. Michelle Pfeiffer was at her most beautiful but was misused. I have a problem with Jack Nickolson and his constant overacting. Here he did the same old shit only the part itself actually demanded it. The movie, directing and story were completely forgettable and slightly boring.

R41, I get that view I just don’t agree at all. Could it be a richer film dramatically with a smoother (technical) integration of its horror elements? Absolutely, but I think the film we got is a juicy treat just the same.

It’s interesting that you find Jack overacting because this is easily the most subdued I’ve ever seen him on screen, and Michelle’s performance elevates the whole movie into something bigger than what’s on the page. It becomes Laura’s movie because of her.

I remember seeing commercials for this movie when it came out that I was only like 12 and I never went to see it and for some reason in my head whenever I think about it I would just surprisingly often for some reason I always associated with Jack Nicholson peeing in a urinal so I don't know if that was in a commercial or a clip on like The Tonight show or something but that's about all I know about this movie.

All I recall of it was Nicholson's character worked in the famous Bradbury Building in downtown LA.

R43 - the peeing scene is in the OP's trailer.

R45 hahaha thanks. Hi st as I had remembered.

I've always had a soft spot for this movie, even though it does have major "second act trouble."

Allison Janney has a tiny role just as the party scene at Christopher Plummer' house begins. Nichols would find better use for her early in PRIMARY COLORS; she was also supposed to be Masha in his 2001 SEAGULL with Streep et al. -- I think that she even did the reading with Wes Bentley (!) -- but Marcia Gay Harden stepped in and was awful, though in her defense the Harris book reports that she, Debra Monk and others in the star-studded cast got virtually no direction from Nichols.

Even tinier "role" -- Justin Kirk's picture is used for the glimpse of Michelle Pfeiffer's dead brother.

R47, what issues did you have with the second act?

Once Rick Baker's wolf mask effects takeover it turns pretty silly.

R49, for me that layer of b-monster movie sensibility is fitting for the movie, and it’s interesting for its contrast with the sophistication of the metaphorical satire aspects. I think the wolf effects are really well done and don’t feel/look cheesy at all, that is if you don’t innately find the idea of a wolf man itself eye-rolling, which I don’t.

James Spader in the last act is honestly terrifying in his wolf transformation, maybe I’m just a big wimp but I always got chilled by that finale fight and Stewart as the villain. I love that we get a literal battle of wolves, that Will Randall makes a final transition into fully becoming a wolf, finding a kind of liberation from humanity, and that maybe Laura will join him in the wild.

This film is now on YouTube as one of their freebies.

It's definitely a movie for a dull Saturday morning. How could so much star power (Mike Nichols, Pfeiffer, Nicholson, Plummer, Spader, even Kate Nelligan) sink such a boring movie?

I saw it when it came out a million years ago and dont remember any of it except thinking Nicholson and Pfeiffer

Sorry meant to say Nicholson and Pfeiffer had great chemistry