OCEAN'S ELEVEN
Starring: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh
Distributed by: Warner Bros.

Date: 01/06/02
By: Gerry Wang

    About the only thing I got from watching OCEAN'S ELEVEN is a greater appreciation for the talent in director Steven Soderbergh. His last two movies, ERIN BROCKOVICH and the brilliant TRAFFIC, were issue-driven, and received critical raves. They catapulted him to the first tier of directors in all of Hollywood. Then, all of a sudden, he decides to take a vacation and breeze his way through OCEAN'S ELEVEN, an inconsequential heist movie, and he still manages to get critical raves.

These two should just bone and get it over with.

    OCEAN'S ELEVEN is a comedy crackling w/ sharp dialogue and blinding star wattage. But the dizzyingly gifted ensemble cast was about the only thing keeping the movie up. I'm the type that gets star-struck, so I enjoyed OCEAN'S ELEVEN a whole lot, despite the fact the story was just damn trite. Basically, Danny Ocean (played by George Clooney) assembles a team of 11 people to steal 3 Vegas casinos' money. Sounds like a premise that could be packed w/ nail-biting "Mission Impossible" sequences, but there is a huge vacuum of suspense in OCEAN'S ELEVEN.

Fuck yeah! Bernie Mac and Don Cheadle!

    The whole movie consists of big stars coasting their way through 90 minutes, trying to be hip cats. I'll admit, George Clooney and Brad Pitt have enough charisma to carry movies by themselves. But where was the sense of danger? At no time did I feel the gang wouldn't succeed. When they were pulling their elaborate cons and chicanery, I just knew the bad guys would be too stupid to see through it. But the main goal of OCEAN'S ELEVEN was just to be cool. Cool, daddio......

Elliott Gould sticks out like a gay thumb.

    The movie also sought to be funny, and there were moments when I just burst out laughing like a baboon. Look for the scene w/ Bernie Mac and Matt Damon. That was the best scene in the whole movie. "They oughta call it whitejack!" Hahahaha..... The stars really do play off each other well, particularly in the George Clooney-Andy Garcia-Julia Roberts love triangle scenes.

I swear, females were fingering themselves when  Clooney and Pitt were on at the same time.

    If only the centerpiece of the movie, the actual heist, was written better. The outcome was never in question, and I was always a step ahead of Ocean's eleven cronies. The movie was too predictable, and as a result, all too forgettable. Go watch for the dialogue and the wonderful cast. Don't even worry about the heist. You've seen it all before.

Our Sinatra and Martin.

Grade: B
-- Fun and witty caper, but a lightweight heist movie. Can't tell you if it's better than the original though.

Babe-o-meter: B-
-- Julia Roberts is merely pretty. I don't lust after her.