Ocean's Eleven
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More movie reviewsDanny Ocean (Clooney), not to be confused with electric soul man Billy Ocean, is newly released from prison and intent on winning back his wife's affection (Roberts) and in doing so pull off the ultimate sting on the guy his wife is currently dating.
As soon as Ocean leaves the joint he sets about recruiting a band of merry men to assist him with his crusade. Enter Pitt as an expert card shark, Damon as a nimble fingered thief and a selection of relative unknowns each of whom comes with their own specialist skills such as acrobatics, electronics, and mastery of a German accent. It's a bit like an episode of the 70's TV show Mission Impossible but without the self destructing tapes.
George Clooney plays his usual smarmy cocksure self, take Roger Moore circa 'View to a kill' leave to stew and lightly fry in oil until golden and crispy. In 'O' Brother Where art though' he showed that he is not afraid of self parody, but here he plays it so straight that even the odd funny line that comes out falls flat.
Brad Pitt is much the same, all flash suit and shiny tie, he really doesn't add much to proceedings. Although he does eat snacks throughout the whole film which is kind of groovy.
Am I the only person in the world that thinks Julia Roberts is ugly? Well okay, maybe that's harsh, she looks good in the picture on the left, she's not a dawg. She does have huge hair, a huger mouth, bizarre lips and I strongly suspect that she would smell like my Grandmother.
Anyway she is the love interest, but her performance doesn't even warrant comment really, she pops up in a couple of scenes and everyone on screen faints and I recoiled behind my popcorn.
Matt Damon is so boring, he is 30-something now but still plays the part of 'The Kid'. I went to school with someone like him, they were good at rugby, crap at art, okay at geography (got on well with the geography teacher because he was a rugby fan) and the popular girls liked him but we all knew that he was Mr Dull.
In the real world, Matt Damon, like the guy I went to school with, would now be an estate agent or telesales person. I have not seen 'Good will hunting' and that is apparently his best film, but in everything I have seen him in he is wooden and totally uninspiring. Here he reprises that same performance, he is Chris O'Donnell with less charm and no rubber nipples.
My main criticism of Ocean's Eleven is that it thinks it is so cool, it is so arrogant that the cast seem not to notice or care that the plot is linear and boring. The performances and script are middle of the road and there is no spark, it is incredibly unexciting. Andy Garcia is a good Mr Big but the only really interesting character is played by Don Cheadle, a bomb expert who deploys an English accent that even us English chappies can't understand.
Having said that i did enjoy it on a basic level, it looks very good and the means by which the sting is carried out is quite cleaver. Essentially it thinks it is a Quintin Tarentino film but is little more than a TV re-run of Mission Impossible. Go and see it if you are on a first date with bubble headed blonde (male or female), or if its raining hard in a city you don't know.
--Jamie O'Connell
