Eminently forgettable

Rating: 5/10 (11 April 2006)

A few years ago, Steve Soderbergh made a clever little heist film. Well, really, he remade a heist film from the '60s. It featured a healthy dose of star power. The remake, that is. Well, so did the original, but most of them are dead now, so he got new ones. Pitt, Clooney, Damon, Roberts, Garcia, etc., etc., etc. And it was all set in Vegas, the self-admitted epitome of hip American glitz. And money, let's not forget the money, because that's what this film is all about. Making money. Stealing it, even.
"Ocean's Twelve" serves as perfect illustration of the desperation Hollywood must feel when it has a hit film on its hands. How to best milk a new potential franchise, especially one that doesn't have its own set of source materials (i.e. books or comics or video games) to provide the sequels? How to keep a long-stale formula (the crime caper) fresh? Why, just add another star to the mix, shake, stir, and pour into the collective consciousness of the indiscriminate, entertainment-fixated public. Dispose of any logic or believability. Feel free to break the fourth wall, just for the fun of it. Make most of the film one red herring after another. Throw a few more stars into the mix, uncredited, just so the audience can admire the hipness of it all. A few odd camera angles, some hand-held shots, more self-conscious star mugging, a plot that only a committee could love, and voilà! You've got a final product that is...
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Good job, Hollywood! What's your next cheap trick?