| Movie Review of "Ocean's Eleven" He was nominated for Best Director at the Oscars this year for �Traffic� and �Erin Brockovich�. I hope Steven Soderbergh didn�t start thinking he could get away with anything. I have already ranted elsewhere about what I felt �Erin Brockovich� was all about. �Traffic� was good in the sense that it lectured society about the war America faces with drugs, and explored ways in which this could be tackled, with the subtle suggestion at the end of it all that the only economical (and I�m using that term without demand and supply curves in my head, so all of you so inclined please stop sending me that e-mail) way to fight the drug war is to legislate. Like I said, it lectured society while using a couple of case studies. Good essay. Nice try. The fact was that there was one incredibly effective drug movie that same year known as �Requiem For A Dream�, a film that not only boasted the best performance by a leading actress (sorry, Julia) in the form of Ellen Burstyn � her �reason to get up in the morning� scene alone would have won her the Oscar, had more than 20,000 people in the entire world watched the movie � but it was also so brilliantly effective. Anyway, I still maintain that every teenager should watch that movie, and (s)he�ll never think about doing drugs, ever. Well, public service message over. Down to the movie. �Ocean�s Eleven� is a movie based on the 1960 original, and it chronicles how 11 people got together to pull off a con job on the secret vault of a string of casinos. I�m not sure why we needed to see a 2001 update of the film, just like I was racking my brain as to why �Psycho� was needlessly (and poorly) remade some years back. I guess there was a bigger budget this time round, and we could see special gadgetry. I mean, there are no mean card tricks to show and not that many blasts and explosions. But, it does boast a highly bankable cast. I mean, surely you can name off-hand at least three people in the cast. After all, there�s a cast of thousands, literally. Unless you�ve been slumming it in an underground cave near the Khyber Pass for the past year or so, or you�ve been in a coma, then you�d definitely know who are some of the actors in the cast. Which doesn�t require me to actually get to that. Anyhow, the story starts with the release of Daniel Ocean from prison. Ocean is played by George Clooney, whom I have never liked. He was mostly tolerable in �Three Kings�, annoying in �O Brother, Where Art Thou?� and I still cry myself to sleep some nights thinking about the eight dollars I�d lost forever in deciding to watch �The Perfect Storm�. He then pays a visit to his friend Rusty (played by Brad Pitt in a really unmemorable role) and they go about gathering a group of 11 people to stage the heist. I�m already bored recounting it this far. Suffice it to say that the heist works, and we find out Daniel used to be married to Tess (Julia Roberts, exhibiting as much range as a can opener) who is now involved with Terry (Andy Garcia), the owner of the chain of casinos Daniel is planning to rob. So many members in the cast, and none particularly memorable, with each of the 11 somehow either not getting effectively developed character-wise or just being plain typecast. In the end, you sympathise with none of the characters (with the possible exception of George Clooney�s, so for me, that�s as good as nothing) and it�s the plot that you end up following. George Clooney�s delivery of his lines was immensely soporific and would have effectively lulled me into sleep were it not for the fact that there were thousands of other cast members around the place. This is probably Brad Pitt�s poorest performance, partly because there was not enough screen time for him to shine. The subplot involving Tess (Julia Roberts) and Daniel (Clooney) [a can opener and a tape machine?] was boring and tiresome to keep up with. Don Cheadle put in a commendable British accent but was nothing more than a technician at the end of the day. Andy Garcia alternated between two facial expressions. There were some highlights though, but they were skimmed over in favour of the bigger names : Bernie Mac and Elliot Gould were hilarious, Carl Reiner was superb, Scott Caan & Casey Affleck had a buddy camaraderie that Casey�s brother Ben and Matt Damon can only dream of (think �Dogma�). Speaking of Matt Damon, I heard he was also in this movie. I heard a story that when the producers and Soderbergh were giving a press conference, they announced that come Oscar nomination time, the only name they will be putting up for Oscar consideration was Carl Reiner in a supporting role. I mean, having seen the film, I pretty much understand why. Anyway, this comment allegedly hurt the ego of George Clooney (although the report was that he was acting like he was hurt, I dunno how people can actually tell the difference). Please, George, you were out-acted here by the freaking roulette wheel. So why are critics and audiences going ga-ga over this? I guess because when all is said and done, it is a fun movie to sit through. I mean, given that Andy Garcia�s character is the scheming owner of the casino and is pretty much eeeeevil, you�ve got no one else to root for apart from the thieves. No, if you�re thinking there�s some philosophical question with respect to that, you�re gonna be disappointed. R.D.�s Rating : I�d never seen the original, but I guess there�s a reason why it isn�t a classic. Leave 1960 sleeping HOT DAWGs to lie dead please. Only catch this if it�s raining outside the cineplex or if you won ten dollars at the casino. (What�s a hot dawg? Check out R.D.�s rating system here.) Sound off!! Did you find the sound of the slot machines more enthralling than George Clooney�s line delivery? Were you thinking of canned tuna every time Julia Roberts appeared on the screen? Did you actually see Matt Damon? Tell me here. |