Apple has 2 new Ocean’s Eleven knockoffs — but which is worth watching?

To paraphrase the great philosopher king Dr. Doofenshmirtz: If I had a nickel for every 2024 straight-to-streaming-looking movie by Apple Studios that starred a pair of former Ocean’s Eleven castmates doing crimes together, I would have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice.

The Instigators and Wolfs are both on Apple TV Plus and feel very much like straight-to-streaming crime movies desperately hoping to carve off some leftover goodwill from the long-gone Ocean’s franchise. (Rumors of an Ocean’s Fourteen are out there, though.) The holiday weekend might tempt you to throw one of these on — the Ocean’s movies are quintessential safe Thanksgiving-time entertainment, with beloved faces, aesthetic choices so recognizable they’ve become memes, and sharp dialogue with fun twists. These movies are very much counting on you wanting to see George Clooney patter on about planning his next big job. But which ones, if any, are worth your time?

The Instigators is directed by Doug Liman (Edge of Tomorrow, The Bourne Identity) and stars Matt Damon and Casey Affleck as two small-time criminals who get thrown into a broader conspiracy after being hired to pull off a heist at the corrupt mayor’s (Ron Perlman) election party. The other film, Wolfs, comes via MCU Spider-Man director Jon Watts and stars Brad Pitt and George Clooney as a pair of “lone wolf” fixers forced to work together on a job.

It’s not just the cast members these movies have in common with the Ocean’s movies: Both involve complicated crimes that unravel over the course of the run time, a ton of banter between the stars, and fragile male egos threatened by the potential of being outdone (and therefore proven to not be the best at what they do) by someone else.

Neither film lives up to the stylish direction or sharp dialogue that Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s trilogy is known for, but The Instigators at least cements itself as a new entry in the canon of Boston Cinema. It’s not as cohesive as The Town, and Liman’s eye for action has seen better days, but Patriots legend Rob Gronkowski has a cameo and the movie is absolutely lousy with Bostonian accents — so there’s that. It’s also an attempt, albeit a less successful one, to enter the “dumb guy” canon; Affleck, who co-wrote the movie, was inspired by Midnight Run, but he and Damon don’t have half of what Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin have going on in that classic.

Like their Ocean’s predecessors, The Instigators and Wolfs have plenty of big names supporting their stars: The Instigators sports Hong Chau, Paul Walter Hauser, Michael Stuhlbarg, Ving Rhames, Alfred Molina, Toby Jones, and, for some reason, Jack Harlow playing a surprisingly big role; Wolfs brings Amy Ryan, Richard Kind, and a very game Austin Abrams to play off of Clooney and Pitt’s sparring fixers. Everyone is kind of mailing it in, because at the end of the day, neither is an actual Ocean’s movie. 

If you watch one of them, I would suggest Wolfs — it’s the better of the two, although I wish it had more fun with its premise (and unlike The Instigators, Wolfs makes room for its various character actors for longer than one scene). Clooney and Pitt both feel much more at home in their roles than their counterparts in The Instigators, as two guys who believe there’s no one who can do what they do, forced to meet someone else who does exactly what they do. The two have undeniable chemistry as they attempt to cover up an apparent accidental homicide that quickly devolves into an endless series of hijinks, as each brings their own methods and goals that clash against the other’s. Watts’ direction is serviceable, but I wish the movie played up the “they hate each other because they’re exactly the same” element about 200% more.

2024 gave us two star-studded Ocean’s knockoffs, but ultimately… you’re better off just rewatching the Ocean’s movies. The imitators continue, but nobody has done it quite like Soderbergh. The heist still hits.

The Instigators and Wolfs are streaming on Apple TV Plus. The Ocean’s trilogy is available for digital rental or purchase on Amazon and Apple TV.