A Dirty Dozen

Rating: Null/10 (14 December 2001)

Having never seen the original "Ocean's Eleven" and considering myself lucky, I was a bit skeptical when I heard that Soderbergh was remaking this Rat Pack hack. But Soderbergh breathes life into the heist movie genre and creates a complex and enjoyable tour de force. Since there are at least eleven characters that need to be introduced, each character is given his mini-moment scene to steal. Elliot Gould is a hoot as Ruben Tischkoff and his shameless hairiness is almost as difficult to watch as a Rupert Pupkin film festival. George Clooney's Danny Ocean is slick, smart and a little dangerous, a part he can play blindfolded, let's face it. But he can still command the screen and there aren't too many actors that can do that these days. Brad Pitt is a pretty boy, no doubt about that. But he gives a cool (if not fattening - eating in every scene.) performance. Don Cheadle, as Roscoe Means, covers his privates as he detonates a transformer that blows the lights in Vegas. Whether or not that was a bit of actorly improvisation or it was written into the script, doesn't matter much. It was a stroke of genius. Matt Damon, looking rather Ripleyesque, holds his own with these Soderbergh regulars. Bernie Mack shows a good deal of range for a stand-up comic. Casey Affleck (brother of Ben) and Scott Caan (son of James) are dumb and dumber as brothers who drive the truck, kind of. The one weakness in this frat pack flick was Julia Roberts. Unfortunately, there was not much chemistry between her and Clooney. Just watch "Out of Sight" if you want a movie definition of "chemistry." The sparks between J-Lo and Clooney fly off the screen. But for all their off-screen comraderie, (in endless interviews) Roberts and Clooney seemed more like siblings than ex-lovers.
Soderbergh, behind the camera as well as directing, has developed a signature look to his films. His humor and his sensibility make an interesting combination. The scene with "That Seventies Show" Topher Grace and "Dawson's Creek's" Joshua Jackson playing with the big boys is wonderfully loopy. "Ocean's Eleven" is one remake that makes the original pale by comparison.