Ocean’s Eleven (’01)
I love watching this plan come together.
Steven Soderbergh’s “Ocean’s Eleven” is as close to a true-blue popcorn film the director has ever made, and it is purely delightful. It works because everyone, from Soderbergh and screenwriter Ted Griffin to the cast of stars and character actors, understands what is required from them, and they are confident in how they deliver it. It works because the plot may be as convoluted as a pretzel as it unfolds, but it’s driven by very simple character motivations that everyone can understand. And it’s a successful remake because it keeps the essential elements of the original work while finding its own voice. I got less traction out of the sequels in 2004 and 2007, but I’ve always loved revisiting this film because it just does everything right.
The film is based on a Rat Pack heist film from 1960, and when my mom and I watched it shortly after this film came out, it kind of fell flat. That wasn’t because of the cast at all, but because it just didn’t have the energy and easy-going attitude of Soderbergh’s film. The basic structure of the film- career criminal Danny Ocean just gets out of prison, and immediately goes back to work with a casino heist in Las Vegas- carries over, but while Frank Sinatra and co. all do good work, seeing Soderbergh (a gifted filmmaker of boundless experimentation) cut loose with a cast including George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Bernie Mac, Carl Reiner, Elliot Gould, Don Cheadle, Casey Affleck and Scott Caan is a damn pleasure to watch unfold as Clooney’s Danny puts together a crew for a heist of the casinos of Garcia’s Terry Benedict while also trying to win back Roberts’s Tess.
A couple of things came back to me watching this again. First thing- it was interesting that my last two “Movies a Week” have had Bernie Mac in them, and watching both this and “Get on the Bus” made me remember what a joy and energy he brought to even small roles, and had me missing him all over again; it’s weird to think that it’s been a decade since he died. I love every moment of his role as Frank Catton the dealer here, and his scene with Matt Damon’s Linus during the big event is probably my favorite part of the movie in terms of its comedic impact. The second thing- I think this is where my opinion of Brad Pitt started to change to where I enjoy him more as an actor. Before “Ocean’s Eleven,” I enjoyed him, and even really liked some performances (“Interview With the Vampire,” “12 Monkeys”), but I think this was where I really started to lock-in with him as an actor, and he started to get a bit more adventurous with his choices. Rusty is not an adventurous choice- it really leans deep into Pitt’s charisma and looks- but I think this was where his “I want to be eating in every scene” acting tic came into play, and I love his easy chemistry with all of the actors here, with his early scene with the great Carl Reiner as Saul being a favorite.
One thing that makes Soderbergh really stand out as a great Hollywood entertainment is how timeless it feels. He and Griffith don’t really add anything into the film that would date it- the score by David Holmes is a jazz-infused delight, and Soderbergh’s cinematography and Stephen Mirrione’s editing are crisp- but they also make it feel like an old-school Hollywood production in how they approach the story. When I watch the Danny-Tess-Terry triangle unfold, I think about “Casablanca” and “To Catch a Thief,” and basically any movie from that era where everything was done to let the movie stars sing. You can basically figure out where the story is going to go, but it’s impossible not to get sucked into how it gets there along the way.
If you had asked me in 2003 how I would view “Ocean’s Eleven,” I might have put it among my very favorite films of all-time. I wouldn’t go that far now, but this is a movie that feels very comfortable while watching it, allowing me to just relax and be entertained for a couple of hours by actors and filmmakers who are having fun with what they’re doing. That’s not always something you get out of a movie like this, but when you do, it’s worth holding on to.
