7/31/2019 Ocean's 11 movie review

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Oceans 11(2001)

I really had no excuse to miss such a star-studded film in the theaters, but somehow, I did.

My pal Eric was nice enough to bring it over last night (he'd already viewed it), and I finallygot the chance to catch the Clooney-Pitt-Soderbergh-etc. collaboration.

Clooney heads a stellar cast as Danny Ocean, a career criminal who decides to gather a

team (hence the title) to pull off a daring robbery. Joining him as his chief lieutenant is BradPitt, and together they recruit the likes of Carl Reiner, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Bernie

Mac, Scott Caan, and a few other guys you don't recognize. Danny needs experts of allsorts, because the job is complicated, but the plot takes a twist when Pitt finds out that

what's really motivating Danny is the fact that his ex-wife (Julia Roberts) is involved with

the target of the scheme.

The plot is straight-up caper, with scenes designed to fool both the mark (Andy Garcia) andthe audience, which it succeeds at to a certain degree. The performances are all very loose

and easy, and you can tell these guys got along and had a good time making the film. Mostof that translates up on the screen, which is good.

No one really stretches themselves much in this movie, though -- for Soderbergh it's kind of

like Out of Sightlite, twice the star power but half the depth. Clooney pretty much reprises

his role from that film with very little variance, which is fine; we want to see George playinga smooth-talking screw up, that's what he's good at. Pitt is sharper and more subtle thanI've seen him in his last few outings; he may have gotten a start as a pretty boy, but he is

maturing into a fine actor. Damon is fairly good in a less-than-flashy role, and Carl Reiner isas you would expect fun. Of the cast I was disappointed only with Don Cheadle, who isuniversally reliable; they strapped him with an English accent that doesn't ever really work,

so his scenes are a bit embarrassing (much as I like Cheadle, why didn't they get any of the

talented guys from Snatch to play that role?). Roberts is mostly there to be pretty scenery,but she more than excels at that, so that's an easily forgiven sin.

Ocean's 11 is fun and it has some very cute dialogue peppered throughout. My only realcomplaint is that it's a little too neat and ends up coming off as a tad contrived; they not

only have to pull off the scam, but Clooney has to win his ex-wife back, and all the whilethey have to fool the audience as well. While a lot of it is clever, some of the plotting and

scheming is just a little too much to be believed. It's not a serious flaw, but it keeps the

movie from being spectacular. Ocean's 11 is well worth the rental, however, even if itdoesn't deserve a permanent place on the shelf.

May 13, 2002