Well done fluff

Rating: 7/10 (27 December 2001)

This remake of the Rat Pack original is about what you'd expect out of the material and director. It possesses a good pace, isn't too indulgent and has a certain style to it. That it's almost completely predictable is beside the point.
With Pitt, Clooney and Garcia in this film, my wife couldn't have been happier. The one with whom she's most enamored, Clooney, smirks a lot, can't act and isn't believable. Luckily Carl Reiner, Elliott Gould and Brad Pitt CAN act, and along with Andy Garcia they put on quite a show. Reiner, in particular, hits just the right note, and given that he was hired to replace Alan Arkin just days before they started shooting (Arkin had become unavailable due to illness), it's all the more impressive. Gould, fitted with the perfect wardrobe, was born to play this role. Years ago Pitt met the fork in his career path and chose "actor" over "movie star", and that choice is evident here.
More could have been done with the screenplay, particularly the dialogue. It doesn't percolate the way you'd expect it to in a film like this. Even so, the story telling is tight, and the editing paces the film just right. Soderbergh directs with a sense of style, particularly the post-caper seen in front of the waterfall which is a clever, if incongruous, way to let the actors take a bow. Basically, this film is fluff, but it's well done fluff.