More than a surprise ending

Rating: 8/10 (15 August 2005)

Most people are surprised by the ending of this movie. I was also surprised, and I usually am not. The mumbling presentation of the preparations for the heist leave out just enough so we don't quite understand what is going on. This can often be frustrating for an audience, but in this case there is enough humor and suspense to keep our interest. Matt Damon's role as an eager but not very experienced crook provides both the humor and the suspense. We want him to succeed because he is such a nice guy, but he is so green that we fear he will mess the whole thing up. I would have given him the Oscar for this movie. He distracts us beautifully from what is really going on.
When our eleven thieves, the good guys in this movie, are on the verge of being caught by the wary casino owner (played by Garcia), we feel bad for what we think is their imminent demise. But the twist is that they have fooled us all. When the SWAT team comes in to arrest them, there is no one there. It's not until after the SWAT team leaves that we realize the whole thing was staged, and our friends, the crooks, were playing the SWAT team, and they took all the money.
The big problem with this movie is that our protagonists are criminals. "Root, root, root for the bad guys; if they get caught it's a shame!" It's not exactly as American as baseball and apple pie. It is more entertaining than most crime dramas.