The audience as dupes (SPOILERS!)

Rating: 6/10 (10 December 2001)

Brilliantly shot, edited, paced. The actors functioned well as an ensemble, though Clooney is clearly in a class by himself.
Two beefs. The first minor one, Julia Roberts did not carry the weight necessary for her role. She's supposed to be the great unattainable prize, and she's just too folksy and plain jane for this role. Many consider her glamorous, I consider her equine.
My main problem with this film is the complete lack of obstacles our protagonists face. Sure, they are foiled by the power grid scenario, but within TEN SECONDS Don Cheadle's character has the solution. Yes, Matt Damon almost gets stuck at the University lab, but the two guards give lame pursuit, and nobody cares to call the cops when the multimillion dollar piece of gear is carted off. Perhaps you could consider it an obstacle that the gymnast gets his hand stuck, but realize that he could have blown up with the door and it wouldn't have screwed up the plan any. Or when Saul is nearly recognized...but nothing ever comes of it. Very lame.
No, our eleven heroes waltz in, are in control the ENTIRE time, and even when it seems they are foiled, they had the double-dupe planned all along. I was miffed that the only conflict in this film is not with the characters and their circumstances, but with the audience and a lack of information. There is the weak illusion of a challenge only because we weren't told what all of the eleven knew regarding the plan. It really would have been great to see Andy Garcia's character throw them a serious curve, but Soderbergh just lets him play right into their hands. That is really cheap.
As an aside, I saw this in digital projection and nearly wet my pants at how good it was. Great color, no pixellation, no dirt, and sharp, sharp, sharp!