DVD Review: Ocean's Eleven (C-)

Ocean's Eleven (2001)
Directed by Steven Soderbergh
Starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Bernie Mac and Matt Damon
MPAA: PG-13
Grade: C-

Review by Scott Standish

You have to hand it to Steven Soderbergh. Even when he disappoints, he at least makes it entertaining.

As you probably know, Ocean's Eleven was a classic Frank Sinatra rat pack movie with lots of jazzy Hollywood style glitz. This remake casts Clooney, Pitt and Damon in the key roles and keeps the mood upbeat. The stories are similar: one big heist all in the name of fun, cash and revenge.

Clooney plays Daniel Ocean, a man who has just been paroled. He's out to get his girl back, and in the process, knock off three of the biggest casinos in Las Vegas. Clooney partners with Pitt, Bernie Mac and eight others to work out the plan. The owner of the Bellagio (the casino where the cash is stored) is seeing Ocean's ex-wife, so there you have your romantic intrigue. Jealousy, revenge, and deception all wrap up into one gooey plot and before long we watching a fairly interesting drama with lots of glamour.

Of course, this robbery could never work in real life (anyone who's seen the security at any of the major Las Vegas casinos knows this), so its not that believable of a story. At times this movie feels like "Mission Impossible meets Scorsese's Casino", but hey these are big stars and your pulling for them, and yes every break goes their way. There is really no new ground being broke here but I doubt that was Soderbergh's intention with this movie anyway. It attempts to be mindless fun, but there is a smugness to this film (maybe because all of these movie stars are smug?) that holds it back from really taking off.

There are some cool casting choices here, Elliot Gould plays an eccentric casino owner in on the plot and Carl Reiner is cast as one of the crooks. So, if you are looking for a rather simple, harmless love story/crime film then I guess you could do a lot worse than Ocean's Eleven. However, if you are looking for something with a bit more depth you will be disappointed by Ocean's Eleven, a stylish yet shallow effort from the usually on target Steven Soderbergh.

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