Amusing Fluffy Nonsense

Rating: 5/10 (11 December 2004)

"Ocean's 12" may not represent the end of American civilization that so much money is spent on such a trifle, but can be seen as a profitable export of the U.S. No animals were harmed in the making of the film, people were employed around Europe, no acting skills were taxed but most of them are American citizens so presumably pay U.S. taxes so the Treasury benefits. I just hope everyone involved from Steve Soderbergh to George Clooney et al do some indie or charitable work so their karma makes up for this lighter than air romp.
Soderbergh's exceptional directorial,editing and cinematographic skills were put to such better use in "Traffic." The actors basically have to just show up, which George Nolfi's script even makes fun of, as each character pretty much plays self-referential satires of themselves and their personas-including Brad Pitt preening in tight silk shirts and expensive cars, Matt Damon spoofing his all-competent Bourne by being a bumbling apprentice, Clooney's age vanity, climaxing in making an explicit joke of Julia Roberts, but heck it's breezily funny.
At one point the characters ask each other if they have a moral objection to the nonsense going on and there's a funny moment's hesitation before they and we enjoying the showthink, nah.
Best are the even shorter cameos, Topher Grace, Albert Finney, Robbie Coltrane, Cherry Jones who add some ballast as otherwise the story is so light weight that a couple of times it threatens to blow away. The Bruce Willis cameo adds to the silliness but it does work.
It is hard to watch all the energy Catherine Zeta-Jones's "Europol" cop puts into catching thieves when one hopes that in real life Interpol is working on catching terrorists. I suppose we can all rest easy that Osama's folks don't have these thieves' skills so that therefore we can sit back and enjoy this 007 for civilians, a world where master thieves are so bored they pretty much have to keep occupied by stealing from each other. Too bad real life is showing us that thievery is really so much easier than it's shown here, from Enron to the Tate Gallery.
It is staggering the number of assistants each actor required, let alone hair dressers, so I think it worth noting that I really don't like Damon and Pitt with buzz cuts and Zeta's long wig in one scene is really bad.
The charming score keeps things moving right along. Was it another self-referential joke, perhaps in the Utah moments, that one of the many incidental songs was written by Senator Orin Hatch so that he'll financially benefit from this silly export?