Starting To Founder

Rating: 6/10 (30 November 2007)

Being a pretty big fan of the OCEAN'S series, I was looking forward to something new and fresh from director Steven Soderbergh. He did a nice job on OCEAN'S ELEVEN and OCEAN'S TWELVE but here, with thirteen, this tired franchise gets soggy.
The back-and-forth banter is still there (thankfully!) as are some great comedic moments. Most notably is a scene between Rusty (Brad Pitt, BABEL) and Danny (George Clooney, GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK) when Rusty visits Danny in his hotel room and catches him tearing up at an Oprah show; this also comes up toward the end of the film when a large donation to charity is made. Also the banter between Rusty and Lenny (Matt Damon, THE GOOD SHEPHERD) is nicely played when Lenny has to don a massive costume nose as a disguise ("Oh the nose plays.") But this is where we leave entertainment and hit some rough seas. The story of one of the Ocean's crewman getting wronged and becoming deathly ill is the pivotal point upon which the entire story swirls, and yet we feel nothing for this person because so little time is spent on him and too much time spent on the EXTREMELY intricate plot devices surrounding their latest "get even" gig. The fixing of blackjack tables, slots, and roulette are given far too much film time, as is a Mexican uprising for fair wages in a factory where some dicey dice are being made for Ocean and his team. The point was supposed to be on getting some payback for the wrong done to one of their own and yet ...we don't see much of that.
It's noteworthy to point out, too, that the film, however faulty, is very well acted. George Clooney and new bad-guy Al Pacino play well against each other on-screen ("I know the guys you'd send after me and they like me better than you"). Even the heavily busted Ellen Barkin does a good job as an uptight hotel manager bent on profit (the only ridiculous scene with her was when she is somehow overpowered by a sexy scent worn by one of Ocean's manly men).
The final damaging blow to the film comes from its beginnings in which we're re-introduced to Roman Nagel (Eddie Izzard, MY SUPER EX-GIRLFRIEND) and he is supposedly utilized in the Ocean team's plan to get even. But after he gives them some information on how to break into certain high security areas, he's lost forever from the script. That was very jarring.
Even with these problems the movie is fun if the story is not. The strong acting make it watchable, but don't think too hard about its intricacies or your brain might explode.