| And yet, somehow,
these 'Kings of Cool' manage to appear charming and amiable, both in
and out of this film, allowing us to think of them as 'one of us'.
They translate as fun guys, having a good time, and inviting us to
join the party. Who are we to say no? The familiar gang of
thieves reunites in Vegas for one last gig. Reuben (Elliot
Gould) is in dire need of help. Hospitalized and broke after a
run in with the back-stabbing billionaire, Willie Bank (Al Pacino),
Danny and his eclectic cast of characters decide that they are going
to crash the grand opening gala of Vegas' latest luxury casino.
Each plays their part in a truly wacky and utterly ludicrous
scheme to manipulate every miniscule aspect of the opening.
Slots will be rigged to pay out jackpots. Craps tables will be
loaded with weighted dice. Card shufflers will be
pre-programmed. Quality and award inspectors will be plagued
with disastrous mishaps. Nothing will escape the control of
Ocean's Eleven... no, twelve... no, thirteen. Whatever!
I don't know how many of them there are.
The film floats along, light-heartedly poking fun at itself and
the genre as a whole. It is tremendously energetic and briskly
paced. The performances are are delivered with tongues firmly
in cheeks. The production values are clearly out of this world.
It is the very definition of entertainment. I am not sure that
it amounts to anything more than a 2-hour diversion -- then again,
it never really tries to be anything more than that.
It succeeds on the simplest level. It is fun. End of
discussion. I enjoyed seeing Clooney play a hyper cool version
of himself. I laughed at the detached and effortless cool of
Brad Pitt. I chuckled at Matt Damon's geeky coolness. I
marveled at the hideousness of Don Cheadle's attempted English
accent. I never tire of Pacino's evil streak. And the
rest of the cast each gets a moment or two in the spotlight, none of
which fail to deliver. "Ocean's Thirteen" isn't quite as good
as the original -- but a little better than the sequel. It is
exactly what you'll expect it to be. |
