Ocean’s 11
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh
Written by: Ted Griffin, George Clayton Johnson, Jack Golden Russell, Harry Brown, Charles Lederer
Starring: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia

This review would be from the viewpoint of someone who hasn’t seen the original Ocean’s 11. However, it is from the viewpoint of someone who has seen other works by Steven Soderbergh so shove it.

One thing that really sucks about this movie is that it’s going to be known for its cast rather than the actual movie. I guess this would relate to the original, seeing as the cast was pretty much made up of the infamous “Rat Pack” (Sammy D, Frank S, and all those other rats), but one thing that the original was lucky enough not to have was Julia Fucking Roberts (Hook). She may not be box office poison, but she certainly looks like a monkey, especially in this movie. That dinner scene? Give me a break. She might as well have been sitting in front of a platter full of bananas and popsicles, speaking to George Clooney (Attack of the Killer Tomatoes part 2, Facts of Life, Batman and Robin) in sign language.

Fortunately, the rest of the cast are superstars worthy of their status. Brad Pitt (Cool World) is definitely bad ass. He does have his shit love dramas, but he was very good in Seven, Fight Club, True Romance, and countless others. Then there’s Clooney, an actor that is totally overshadowed by his People’s Most Attractive Male status. Clooney kicks ass. Just look at the facts: From Dusk Till Dawn, Out Of Sight, Oh Brother Where Art Thou? Those are some kick ass movies. Then there’s Don Cheadle (Fresh Prince of Bel Air), who seems to have become a staple in Soderbergh films. And of course there little Matt Damon (Good Will Hunting) and Casey Affleck (Good Will Hunting), brother to Ben (ARMAGEDDON, Buffy The Vampire Slayer). Okay, enough with the fucking cast already.

So the story is George Clooney’s character, Danny Ocean, gets out of prison. He meets up with Brad Pitt, whose character works on movies training actors how to properly play poker for their films. This makes way for some cameos by many teen icons including that guy from That 70’s Show, that guy from Dawson’s Creek, that guy from American Pie and Evolution, and three other people I didn’t recognize. Probably from some WB shows. So Pitt and Clooney start to discuss a heist where they will rob a Las Vegas casino. Something that no one has ever come close to successfully achieving (as we are shown in a few cool flashbacks). So they decide to put together a team of the best thieves around. Enter ensemble cast of stars. Once that is complete, the robbery begins.

Then there’s the whole side story about Julia Roberts as Clooney’s ex, who is now married to the owner of the casino (Andy Garcia) they are going to rob, but that’s not important.

Basically this movie is a typical caper flick, straight out of the seventies. It’s very similar in style to Soderbergh’s Out Of Sight. It totally fits in with that Elmore Leonard group of movies (Out of Sight, Get Shorty, Jackie Brown), even though the story was not written by him. The story and style play off of each other quite well, although it is weird watching a retro style movie with high tech gadgetry. I guess that would be one complaint to mention. The fun part of the movie is watching these 11 guys figure out how to rob a vault that seems impossible to penetrate, but once you finally see them do it it’s a little dissapointing that the story relies on some unexplained high-tech gadgets to get the job done. It’s not a big deal, but it just seems like a cheat to invent tools to help them along their way.

Anyways, that’s definitely not enough to ruin the fun of the movie. It’s fast paced, full of kick ass music (another similarity to Out of Sight), and the cast is good. All of this is enough to send Ocean’s 11 sailing aboard the S.S. “11″ down the “Ocean’s” watery path of glory. Any movie that uses a split screen is good in my books. — Jay