Why would anyone care?

Rating: 2/10 (13 December 2001)

This drivel never left the starting gate. There is nothing here to care about.
The opening scene is a convict making a lame case for parole. In spite of his ridiculous story, in the next scene he's walking out of a prison in NJ. Next he's in an Atlantic City casino. At this point I still don't know who he is or what he's doing, and I don't care. After apparently meeting an old friend who's dealing there, he makes a late night call to his parole officer. That thread goes nowhere. Next he's in Hollywood for some unknown reason. At this point I started counting the twinkly lights in the ceiling.
The "banter" some critics have swooned over is trite at best. Clooney and Pitt sound like they're satirizing some bad detective novel.
Finally, Julia Roberts is nothing but a female stick figure.
Soderbergh, who did marvelous work with "Traffic," should be ashamed of himself.