Slick, Smooth All-Star Cast Never Seems to Risk Failure

Rating: 6/10 (22 January 2012)

George Clooney, Brad Pitt and dozens of their elite Hollywood buddies get together to remake and rejuvenate this rat pack classic from forty years prior. The end result is a slick, mildly overproduced adventure that's smart and suave, though not quite so much as it seems to think it is. Much of the movie is blown on excessive, "look what we can afford to do" antics that are, admittedly, fun to watch but ultimately do little to endear the cast to their audience. Rather than a case of pillaging the rich to fill the coffers of the poor and desperate, this first installment of the Ocean's franchise feels more like a case of the filthy rich reaching into the cookie jars of the filthier. The heist genre loses a bit of its inherent suspense when a film's protagonists have access to a garage full of police paraphernalia, server racks spilling over with imaginary "future tech" computer equipment, Italian sports cars, cushy upper deck hotel rooms and access to all the blueprints they'll ever need. Clooney's charisma does buy him a degree of invulnerability to this phenomenon, which makes him an ideal centerpiece, but after the first viewing most of the team's close calls seem far too easily resolved. With these resources, Beavis & Butt-Head could have a pretty good shot at making off with a casino's millions. Good for a few action spots, at least.