Wish I'd thought of that...

Rating: Null/10 (31 December 2002)

"Ocean's Eleven" is the kind of film that you enjoy watching, but that you'd really, really like to be a part of. The actors all look like they're having a blast, and the extras on the DVD confirm that theory.
For those who don't know, the eleven are George Clooney ("O Brother, Where Art Thou?"), Brad Pitt ("Fight Club"), Matt Damon ("Saving Private Ryan"), Elliot Gould ("American History X"), Carl Reiner ("It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World"), Don Cheadle ("Traffic"), Bernie Mac ("Get On The Bus"), Scott Caan ("Enemy Of The State"), Casey Affleck ("Good Will Hunting"), Eddie Jemison ("Schizopolis"), and Shaobo Qin (making his feature film debut). Julia Roberts ("The Player"), and Andy Garcia ("The Untouchables") co-headline the promotional work with Clooney, Pitt, and Damon, but their parts are actually fairly small, considering the magnitude of the actors in the roles.
Getting past that magnificent list of names, the film itself is what the advertising promised: A bunch of cool guys being cool. Clooney and Pitt, in particular, exude the sort of "Hey, wouldn't it be fun to rob three casinos?" "Yeah! I'll start calling the guys!" nonchalance that has made them both huge stars.
As an aspiring filmmaker who's struggling to finish writing his (VERY independent) directorial debut, the banter and the sense of unity that are so prevalent in "Ocean's Eleven" are very much things that I aim to imitate. As a fan of dialogue (as evidenced by the fact that I'm an avid Aaron Sorkin fan), Ted Griffin's screenplay is like music to my eyes and ears. Visually appealing (It's cool people! In Vegas!) and tightly-written, it was easily one of my favorite films of 2001, and having recently seen it again on DVD (my third or fourth viewing), it's fast climbing my list of favorites from any year.
Now, why couldn't I have thought of getting 11 cool people like Clooney, Pitt, Damon, and company for MY movie? Oh, yeah. I'm not Soderbergh...