Will Randall (Jack Nicholson) hits a wolf while driving on a snow covered road. As he checks on the animal, it bites him on the hand. Will's job is in danger when the publishing house gets taken over by wealthy Raymond Alden (Christopher Plummer). His underling Roy (David Hyde Pierce),protégé Stewart Swinton (James Spader) and author Maude Waggins (Prunella Scales) all vow to support him. Alden demotes him to eastern Europe while giving his editor-in-chief job to Swinton. It turns out that Swinton had pitched vehemently for the job behind his back. Will is tired and meekly accepts his fate. Then he starts to change. His heighten sense of smell uncovers his wife Charlotte (Kate Nelligan) cheating with Swinton. He starts a relationship with Raymond's daughter Laura (Michelle Pfeiffer) with Raymond's disapproval. He seeks out Dr. Vijay Alezais (Om Puri)'s help with the animal spirit possession. With his new powers, he takes revenge on Swinton and his wife. When his wife turns up dead, Detective Bridger (Richard Jenkins) investigates.

Director Mike Nichols is trying to dig into the mental transformation of the werewolf character. On the surface, this could be fascinating with Nicholson being so obviously wolf-like. Pfeiffer is not winning in this sour role. Spader is as always sleazy. Plummer gives a run-of-the-mill effort. Nicholson is bitten with the opening credits and his transformation isn't as compelling as it should. Horror fans are probably bored with the first half and unimpressed with the weak effects. On the other hand, Nichols fans won't find the acting that special. Nicholson peeing on Spader is a nice move. The movie is too long. The tension and the dread isn't there. I don't sympathize with anybody here. It is fun to see David Schwimmer in a small role right before he gets Friends but not much else is fun in this movie.

WOLF is, for the most part, a fun and engaging riff on the classic werewolf tale about an ordinary man who finds himself bitten by a wolf and before long ends up howling at the moon. It's slightly overlong, but benefits from great casting in the form of Jack Nicholson, who perfectly channels his lead's wolfish nature; out of all the actors working in Hollywood, Nicholson is the one you can truly believe has a bit of the devil in him.

What I liked about WOLF is that it avoids being hokum for the most part. I like B-movies as much as the next guy, but it's nice to see something different and I loved the way this film explores the beast in man theme in a corporate environment. Watching Nicholson's developing rivalry with a slimy James Spader is particularly fine, culminating in that memorable gross-out scene in the men's bathroom.

It's not a perfect film by any means, and some of it does drag a bit. The scriptwriters clearly didn't know what to do with Michelle Pfeiffer's perfunctory love interest and her presence is a little gruelling on the viewer's patience. Still, the excellent Spader helps to make up for that, and there are nice, if minor, parts for Prunella Scales, Eileen Atkins and Christopher Plummer. There's a lot of comedy, too, which works a treat.

Rick Baker's special effects are a mix of good and bad. Nicholson's wolfman makeup is decent, but the animatronic wolves look like they belong in a little kid's film rather than an adult movie. And director Mike Nichols is clearly better at handling the dialogue than he is the action - all those slow-mo shots of actors jumping through the air gets a bit silly after the umpteenth time. Still, this is a highlight in a decade that was virtually defunct of decent werewolf movies.

One night, Will Randall (Jack Nicholson) is driving and hits a wolf...which is odd since it's in New England. When he gets out to see if the animal is dead, it lunges at him...biting him and making him a werewolf. Oddly, in some ways, Will's life actually IMPROVED after this....and the film never failed to surprise me.

If you are looking for a film like Universal's "Wolf Man" (1940),well you might just be disappointed. However, I enjoyed this film because it didn't try to be the old horror film but a re-imagined movie which postulates that the goodness or evil within can mitigate what a person becomes when they are a werewolf. In the case of Jack Nicholson's character, he could over time learn to control the animalistic impulses. And, in the case of a rival and very evil werewolf, the man chooses to give himself wholly to these impulses and aggression.

I also like how the film was NOT a vehicle for massive special effects and violence. Sure, it was a bit bloody but certainly not gratuitously. And instead of focusing on effects, the film excels at characterization and story. I have no idea why it has a paltry 6.3 now on IMDB...I thought the film was terrific and a nice new sort of wolfy tale.