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© 2002 Films on Disc  Stuart J. Kobak ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
       

12/6/01
By Alexander Kobak

     Ocean's Eleven is a slick, superficial, by-the-numbers heist film. Which is fine. It would be nice if it was an innovative and insightful film, but that's not what it's about. It's all about the cool factor. Don't get me wrong, it is cool. It's hard to imagine a film with George Clooney and Brad Pitt not being cool, but even they can't conjure enough cool to gloss over script and character problems. Compared to the run of recent heist flicks (Heist, The Score) Ocean's Eleven falls particularly flat. 

     Ocean's Eleven stars George Clooney as Danny Ocean, master thief and confidence man. Brad Pitt plays his partner, Dusty Ryan. The Film starts out promisingly enough:  Ocean is released from prison, promptly contacts old buddy Dusty, and hatches a plan to rob three Las Vegas casinos. The action moves along at a fast pace, and we even feel touches of Soderbergh's style, with the blown out cinematography in the desert when Clooney and Pitt recruit their backer Ruben Tischkoff (Elliot Gould). But what really makes the first section of the movie shine is the two stars, Clooney and Pitt playing off of one another, without the interference of the rest of the ensemble cast, in a battle for king of the cool. These early scenes are what the entire movie should have been about, blinding star power overwhelming everything else. If only the film could have remained the Clooney and Pitt show it might have been something. 
     Unfortunately,  it's Ocean's Eleven:  That means Ocean needs another nine bodies to pull off the mega-heist. Recruiting the crew is accomplished through an obligatory montage that is pretty well done. Actually, it's fun, but it marks the end of the film's journey into cool. The script isn't clever enough, and the action lacks a nitro burst, leaving Ocean's Eleven unable to ignite the imagination. Even Soderbergh's directing becomes cookie cutter.  After the opening charge, the director seems overwhelmed by the dull thud of the script. It's also at this point where the story starts losing credibility. The introduction of Matt Damon's character as eleventh man Linus Caldwell, strikes a discordant note. Why is he added to the elite group? More star power? Indeed, as the film progresses, he only adds inexplicable levels of complexity. Perhaps the poster should have listed Matt Damon as "The Wild Card" instead of Julia Roberts.
      The cast of the film is fine, although relatively uninteresting, with one noticeable exception. Andy Garcia and his casino lackeys are a horrible miscue. They lack any sense of danger;  instead, they are simply comical buffoons being helplessly bamboozled by Clooney and Co. This stretches believability to the breaking point, even sapping the tension  from the heist. A hero (or Anti-Hero as the case may be) is measured in large part by the stature of his nemesis. Garcia isn't even in the same ballpark as Clooney, so that when they do go head to head, (I don't think I'm spoiling anything here) and Clooney wins, it's like watching Pedro Martinez strike out a Little Leaguer. To a lesser extent, I also found Julia Roberts wrong for the role of Danny Ocean's ex-wife. She's too much of a sweetheart, and while I'm quite sure she's capable of developing an on-screen personality that would have the right edge (like Jennifer Lopez in Out of Sight) she isn't given the time. Giving her that time isn't a possibility in a film like this though, because character development, other than the most superficial, is thought to simply bog down the action. With that in mind, casting an actress with a bit more of a "bad girl" edge might have been a better call.
      Ocean's Eleven isn't a bad movie. But it's not good enough from last year's winner of the Best Director Oscar© or two of Hollywood's hottest stars. If you're gonna try to be cool then you better be cool. Ocean's Eleven is only lukewarm! Once you stop overwhelming the audience with cool, they're gonna start looking at the plot, and with Ocean's Eleven that's a missing card. But fear not, you can still watch a really good Steven Soderbergh heist film staring George Clooney. Just rent Out of Sight. 

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