A Review by Phil Calabro
2001, Warner Brothers/Village Roadshow, Dir. Steven Soderbergh - Starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts, Andy Garcia, Bernie Mac, Carl Reiner, Casey Affleck, Scott Caan, Don Cheadle, Elliot Gould, Eddie Jemison, Shaobo Qin
I remember the first time I saw 'Ocean's Eleven' when it came out theatrically. I was a freshman, not yet into deeply analyzing movies, yet I was completely infatuated with its style, story, and characters. The movie is very comfortable with the audience, not trying to make any desperate attempts to grab the viewer's attention. Instead, it turns up the volume on the jazz score and lets the cast do their fancy fingerwork. Steve Soderbergh, probably one of Hollywood's best pinch-hitter directors, tries his best not to screw up the potentially great premise of the film, which is a remake from a 1960 version starring the Rat Pack. Ok, so George Clooney's no Blue Eyes - but his clean-cut look and demeanor still keep the gears cranking. Some critics will complain that it's just a bunch of pretty faces cracking one-liners and reading off a heist script - every bit of that is true, and it's just the way I like it.
Danny Ocean (Clooney) has just been released from jail after accused for stealing, a nasty habit he picked up after his wife Tess Ocean (Roberts) left him. Free from bondage, he thinks up a brilliant heist job to rob three casinos on one night - the Bellagio, MGM Grand, and Mirage - all owned by billionaire Terry Benedict (Garcia), the same man who stole Tess away from him. But in order to pull it off, he needs a team with great physical and mental abilities. His sidekick Rusty Ryan (Pitt) is a fixer in Los Angeles, and together they pick out their nominees. They come across a great impersonator named Saul (Reiner), a safe-robber (Cheadle), a pickpocketer (Damon), two Mormon brothers with a knack of creating a scene (Affleck and Caan), a blackjack dealer (Mac), an electronics whiz (Jemison), a contortionist (Qin), and a millionaire casino tycoon (Gould). Their plan is practically flawless, but Benedict starts to keep his eye on them - will they get with the money, and will Danny get back Tess?
As I said before, George Clooney won't ever become a member of the Rat Pack, but he's still got enough style to pull off the role. He's probably the least interesting of the characters, despite his ubiquitousness. He actually seems a bit tired, tries too hard sometimes, and most of the time he says single sentences and leaves it off at that. The supporting characters severely outweight Clooney's performance. Andy Garcia is enjoyable and very ruthless as Terry Benedict, a man whose money is more important than his friends. He's very snakish - almost a caricature of a cartoon villian, but with a bit more taste. Brad Pitt is on about the same level as Clooney is - the character of Rusty is supposed to be a rather cynical and softspoken person, but his presence does nothing for the audience. His role doesn't even hold as much significance in the final heist. Matt Damon is fun, not acting like some macho Jason Bourne, but more along the lines of Will Hunting. He's naive in the conning business, and gets a lot of laughs with Bernie Mac in one particular scene. Julia Roberts fulfills her role as the most overrated actress in Hollywood by properly displaying her stiff upper lip and cold heart in every scene.
Steve Soderbergh deploys every device to divert your attention to the heist - building its climax quicker than you'd imagine. But thankfully, it spends a good amount of time on the actual heist itself to keep your strapped to your seat - it's one of those movies that you'd start biting your nails after five minutes wondering what little slip-up might happen. It's like one big domino effect - each little job piles on top of the other until you get the big surprise at the end (which will not be spoiled for your enjoyment). One impressive feature of the film is its score - involving a selection of jazz, classical, and 60s acid-rock, it parallels very well with the plotline itself, almost as if it was the original - crooners and all. Exotic locales, beautiful camerashots of the Las Vegas cityscape, beautiful people - it's a metaphorical Aurora Borealis of style.
With a few exceptions of the cast members, 'Ocean's Eleven' is a perennial popcorn flick. It's got style, grace, and action - plus lots of beautiful women to ogle at and plenty of tension. Some people say it's the epitomy of 'cool', some say it's the antithesis because it tries to hard. It's planted somewhere in between, but it's enough to make this moviegoer smile.
