Inspired silliness and the best looking movie you'll see all year

Rating: 10/10 (10 June 2007)

This may be number two in what is another franchise but Steven Soderbergh's love of movies and the movie-making process is evident in every fabulous looking frame, (this is probably the best-looking movie you'll see all year), and if the extremely daft plot, (there are daft heist movies and then there is "Ocean's 12"), could be scribbled on the back of a postage stamp this is also the most sheerly enjoyable film I have seen in a very long time.
As for that daft plot, it exists only as an excuse to do a follow-up to the hugely successful "Ocean's 11". It's complicated, at times it's basically non-existent and this movie, more than the last one, often feels like a bunch of pals goofing around in front of the camera; (remember the very first "Ocean's 11" with the Rat Pack? Well, that's what killed it). The difference here is that everyone on screen is having a ball and it's infectious and Soderbergh is a master stylist and a great innovator who loves playing fast and loose with plot mechanics. None of it may make the slightest bit of sense yet there is not a redundant moment in the whole movie. Clooney, Damon, Pitt, Reiner and Gould are all marvellous; Julia Roberts has one great scene in which her character Tess passes herself off as ... Julia Roberts and Catherine Zeta-Jones works wonders the the film's only misbegotten character, Pitt's love interest who happens to be the female detective on everybody's tail. It may be inspired silliness but I loved it to bits and can't wait to see "Ocean's 13".