What a Great Looking Mess

Rating: Null/10 (7 December 2001)

(Some SPOILERS)***********
Is it better than the original film? Hell yes. But, that's not saying much. The legendary stories behind the "making" of the Sinatra film are well known, especially how Sinatra would yell "Move on" after the first take on almost every scene. he and Dino and Joey Bishop and Lawford were soused during most of it and the film is fun to watch in a kitschy Rat Pack kinda way but it is a bad movie. So, this one is better. There are some genuinely funny scenes, some fine performances and Soderbergh shoots all the action well, but, when all is said and done, it seems like Clooney put on a tux and said "Let's just have some fun". But the movie so falls apart and you have to just go along for the ride, but the ending OR endings really were strange. Orchestral music swells as it follows Julia Roberts out of the casino for no particular reason and after you pull off a very risky heist, would you just hang around, together, as a group, and watch a casino fountain??? Weird. And then the final tagged on scene where Pitt comes to pick up Clooney from prison - uh....so Garcia's men are just going to follow him for the rest of his life? Or only until he leaves Nevada? Not clear, not needed, not good. And Cheadle, who is so brilliant in Devil In A Blue Dress, Traffic, Out Of Sight and so many others, gives a bad performance. I couldn't believe it. He and the director must have become such good friends that when he said "Lemme do an English accent" no one had the heart to tell him it sucked. He makes Costner's accents sound good. I am a huge fan of Soderbergh's work (from Sex, Lies & Videotape to what I consider his best film, The period drama, King Of The Hill) and this little trinket won't hurt him. He makes it move as best he can, but overall, why??? There are so many better heist films (Riffifi). Or even Thunderbolt & Lightfoot for that matter. If you catch it on cable, you might have fun, but if you get a babysitter, shell out close to 20 bucks, popcorn, big box of Goobers, I think you might feel as taken as Andy Garcia's character.