The Stars Come Out In Vegas

Rating: 7/10 (13 February 2005)

There is nothing wrong with movies that are as deep as a pile of leaves in June. A fun heist movie does not need an emotional motivations, emotional climaxes, emotion at all. Ocean's 11 is a fun remake of the 1960s rat pack movie of the same title, and essentially the same plot. Las Vegas casinos can never be robbed enough in the world of movies. A fun movie which stars almost anyone and everyone: George Cloony, Brad Pitt, Bernie Mac, Matt Damon, Elliot Gould, Casey Affleck (Ben's brother), Scott Caan (James' son), Don Cheadle, Carl Reiner, Andy Garcia, and introducing someone named Julia Roberts. The movie has a simple plot, a crew of ten specialists, headed by Danny Ocean (Cloony) plot to steal over $160 million from 3 Las Vegas casinos owned by Terry Benedict (Garcia). The fun part of Ocean's 11 is that it uses three real Vegas casinos, the Bellagio, the MGM, and the Grande, and uses real boxers in a match-up fans of the sport could only dream about in 2001, Lennox Lewis and Vladimir Klitchko. They may sound like small details, but the success of Steven Soderbergh's movie is in how maybe this heist could actually work in real life. Sure there are a few lapses of logic, just how a team of people could transport duffel bags of hooker brochures into a large vault, I do not know, but the overall style overcomes them. The music, the lighting, the filter used on the cameras all bring about a sense of coolness, high energy that keeps the audience into the plot as much as the thieves. Humor from unexpected sources also helps keep the audience engaged in the movie, and the fun dialog helps as well. Popcorn entertainment? You betcha. Anything to make you think? Nope. Fun and entertaining? Absolutely.