Please be reminded that this review reveals major details including the ending...

The only film by Steven Soderbergh I've seen thus far is "Traffic", which is what I consider to be a great film. It was a good drama, had creative artistic elements and a nice ensemble cast. Considering all that is "Hollywood", this was a good film.

My skepticism about Ocean's Eleven is justified. Not to say that Soderbergh should be a non-Hollywood performer director, but I was hoping that his post-Traffic effort would be something even more bolder for cinema with a cast that wasn't so "in your face". Still, I don't mind seeing Pitt and Clooney in addition to Roberts and the others that appear in this film.

Of course, I guessed wrong about Ocean's 11 about being bolder. At the very least it's an entertaining popcorn flick. And I enjoyed it.

George Clooney plays Daniel Ocean, just out of prison but already itching to steal the money from three major Las Vegas casinos. Of those three, all the money finally gets stored in one of them: the Bellagio. With lighting speed (it's best not to question the "real time" in this film) he meets up with Dusty Ryan (Pitt) to assemble a team of eleven, each a specialist.

Without going over the entire cast, the group includes such colorful characters as explosives expert Roscoe Means (Don Cheadle), acrobatics expert Yen (Shaobo Qin) and master imposter Saul Bloom (Carl Reiner). After gathering the others their last pick, rookie Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon), seals the eleven and they head to Vegas.

With some assistance from a competing casino owner (performed by a rather overbearing Elliott Gould), the group constructs a replica of the Bellagio vault in a warehouse and get ready to make their move on a weekend evening.

Somewhere, right now, Bellagio executives are smiling at the publicity this film is giving them.

The money is the motive, but for Ocean there is another reason, and that reason is his ex-wife, Tess (Julia Roberts). The three casinos are run by Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia), a machine of a man who runs his casinos like clockwork.

Unfortunately for Ocean, Benedict is seeing Tess. But luckily for us, it's added entertainment - as the heist begins, things start getting complicated, and not just with the money.

The film is definitely entertaining, with nice bits of sarcasm and humor strewn about. Classic jazz mixed with some contemporary elements by composer David Holmes adds to a nice Vegas feel.

While the film tries to be dramatic, it's mainstay is in humor and romance for the sliver between Clooney and Roberts.

Speaking of which, Julia Roberts is just "there". She rarely appears on film as a significant character even though she plays Ocean's ex-wife. This goes for the rest of the cast as well. They are all very two dimensional. After all, with eleven plus, you can't expect any major character development in under two hours. Yen, who plays the acrobatic you see on the trailer who flips backwards, says maybe three lines, one of which sounded like English ("Where the f*ck have you been!" - after part of the heist nearly goes wrong). Still, Soderbergh manages to give each of the characters enough screen time for all of them to be very likeable.

Unlike Soderbergh's last film where "No one comes clean", all the ex-cons here walk away with their money. And as a scene for peaceful closure, the group stares at the water fountains of the Bellagio as DeBussy's "Clair de Lune" plays for us.

Long after this ("three to six months" as intertitles state), Ocean is picked up from prison after violating probation during the successful heist. Rusty has a car waiting and lo and behold, his ex-wife is sitting in it, there after finding out that Terry Benedict would give her up to have his millions back. Ocean gets his love back. A happy ending that of course seems too ideal for some of us but, for some odd reason, is something that I enjoyed seeing.

And there's your warmth.

Ocean's Eleven is fun, plain and simple. And if you really like Rat Pack movies where "it all comes together", then you should check this one out. Remember, though, to expect fun and not "high caliber performances".


Recommended:
Yes

Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older