Ocean’s runs aground on rocky shore
STEVEN Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Eleven is a hard movie to live up to. Its starry charm was backed by a breezy and deceptively dense script full of memorable characters, dizzyingly complex logistics and lively film-making Soderbergh himself couldn’t recreate in the two sequels.
But it is undeniable that even the near-perfect Eleven was missing something pretty major: women. You know, besides Julia Roberts, that blackjack dealer and the one exotic dancer.
So why not, 17 years later, fix that egregious oversight by gathering up a few Oscar and Emmy winners and nominees, a Grammy winner and a buzzy comedienne to keep that Ocean’s franchise going and acknowledge the other half of the human population? If only Ocean’s 8 was as a fresh and smart as that first one. (Hint: It’s not for lack of star charisma or talent.)
Sandra Bullock anchors the cast as Debbie Ocean, the neverbefore-mentioned sister of George Clooney’s Danny Ocean, who has taken up the family business to varying degrees of success and prefers to work without “hims”. “Hers,” she says, go unnoticed.
And indeed, Debbie uses that very much to her advantage in a rollicking shoplifting spree at Bergdorf ’s. It helps, of course, when you look like Sandra Bullock and you happen to have left jail in full hair, make-up and cocktail dress. But it’s still quite a bit of fun seeing her act the part of a wealthy shopper who tries to demand a refund for what she’s just pinched from their shelves. Most of her method is simply looking like she belongs and taking advantage of the privileges that affords her. Don’t expect this level of class from the rest of the film, however. Ocean’s 8 suffers from a bit of tonal whiplash.
Debbie’s plan is to steal a $150million diamond necklace.
She and her team of savants must infiltrate the orbit of a vapid celeb and convince her to wear the necklace to the Met Gala, where they’ll steal it.
While Blanchett and Bullock are predictably solid in their roles, it’s Hathaway who really steals the film.
There was a danger to Eleven and a thrill in seeing that team succeed. Here, none of the women seem to have any fallibility, and you never find yourself doubting whether or not they can pull it off. The celebrity skewering is first-rate, but, for the most part, if you’ve seen Eleven, you’ve basically seen Ocean’s 8, too. –AP