Janet Maslin of "The New York Times" wrote, "So long as it stays confined to the level of metaphor, as it does in the first hour of "Wolf", this idea really is irresistible." Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" wrote, ""Wolf" is both more and less than a traditional werewolf movie. Less, because it doesn't provide the frankly vulgar thrills and excesses some audience members are going to be hoping for. And more, because Nicholson and his director, Mike Nichols, are halfway serious about exploring what might happen if a New York book editor did become a werewolf". Hal Hinson of "The Washington Post" wrote, "In its own delightfully peculiar way, the film is the only one of its kind ever made – a horror film about office politics ... The movie isn't wholly great; it starts to unravel just after the midway point. Still, there are charms enough all the way through to make it the most seductive, most enjoyable film of the summer". Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone" called it "a rapturous romantic thriller with a darkly comic subtext about what kills human values".