Saturday, August 25, 2007
Ocean's 13
****½ Ocean's Thirteen. Comedy, Action/Adventure.
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh.
Starring: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Elliott Gould, Bernie Mac, Al Pacino.
We saw this at the Hercules with the kids. We'd intended to re-watch the first two, but got caught up watching Dr. Who DVDs instead.
Reuben (Elliott Gould) has been scammed out of what he expected to be his retirement fortune by Willie Bank (Al Pacino). As a result, Reuben has a heart attack and ends up bedridden and ill, too depressed to fight back.
So Ocean (George Clooney) and pals decide to get back at Bank in revenge, and to perk Reuben up.
Bank is opening a new casino, and really, really wants the Five Diamonds Award. He's even got the diamonds on display. Ocean's plan isn't to steal from the casino this time, so much as it is to make sure that the casino loses money. A lot of money. And to ensure that he doesn't get the Five Diamonds Award.
There's a lot of high-tech scheming and running around to rig all the games, including a trip to a Mexican factory that makes dice that launches a hilarious subplot, but eventually they run into a snag and have to bring in Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia). The price for Benedict's help? The diamonds. Which they've already concluded they can't steal.
So it's impossible--business as usual for this crew.
It's a very fast-moving film, and I just gave up on trying to catch everything. I'll watch it again on DVD and catch more of it. I did miss Julia Roberts's character from the first two movies. Ellen Barkin didn't really fill the same niche.
The little things really made the movie for me--the sentimental letters sent to Reuben, the running joke through the film of Danny and Rusty watching Oprah, and the myriad ways they torment the poor guy who's judging the casino for the Five Diamond Award.
And then there's the ending. It's full of poetic justice, and made me leave the theater with a huge grin on my face.
...more
Categories: Movies, 4.5stars, Comedy, ActionAdventure
Labels: 4.5 stars, action, comedy, Movies
