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Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Ocean's 11 (2001)

"You're a thief and a liar."
"I only lied about being a thief, I don't do that anymore."
"Steal?"
"Lie."

Back in the 60s the Rat Pack (Sinatra, Martin, Davis Jr., Bishop, Lawford) made a film about robbing 4 casinos...forty years later we have this version. As a fan of the Rat Pack version, I admit I was a little vary of this film, however they won me over.

Eleven men are planning to rob the three biggest casinos in Vegas. Not only do these casinos have state-of-the-art security systems, they are all owned by a man who doesn't like to be crossed ("he'll kill ya, and then he'll go to work on ya"). The brains of the operation are Danny Ocean (Clooney) and Rusty (Pitt), two good friends with a language all their own. Danny was just released from jail and wants to get even with the guy his wife Tess (Roberts) is now seeing, Terry Benedict (Garcia). Danny has enlisted the help of the best-of-the-best. Financing the operation is Reuben (Gould) who hates Benedict for ruining his casino. Their inside man is Frank (Mac) who deals Blackjack. The bickering Malloy brothers, Virgil (Affleck) and Turk (Caan) are along for distraction and mechanics. Livingston (Jemison) is their nervous computer guy. Basher (Cheadle) is their demolition expert. The Amazing Yen (Qin) is their "stunt" man (he is an acrobat and is able to do lots of fascinating things with his body). And rounding out the pack is Saul (Reiner), the master of disguise. Saul wants to get out of the business and retire, but he's willing to help out some old friends.


The cast is obviously enjoying this film and working together. It is a star studded cast, and yet this isn't a big budget film. If you have seen the Rat Pack version, don't worry, they story and characters are different. Much of the dialogue is improvised, and Rusty's job is funny and very current (he's teaching recent movie stars how to play poker). I own this movie and have seen it countless times, but I still laugh throughout the film. And you definitely won't see the ending coming! 10 out of 10. 100 points!

Dude, it's quotable: I like the line under the quote, but I think my favorite exchanges happen between the Malloy brothers "I'm gonna get out of the car and drop you like third period French", but the rest of the cast also does an excellent job
Rent it multiple times: You can appreciate the ending more after you've seen the film a few times, and you pick up more of the cameos and subtle humor

Ocean's Eleven (2001) 116 minutes
Rating: PG-13 for some language and sexual content
Director: Steven Sonderbergh
Starring: George Clooney as Danny Ocean
Brad Pitt as Rusty Ryan
Matt Damon as Linus Caldwell
Andy Garcia as Terry Benedict
Julia Roberts as Tess Ocean
Elliott Gould as Reuben Tishkoff
Bernie Mac as Frank Catton
Casey Affleck as Virgil Malloy
Scott Caan as Turk Malloy
Eddie Jemison as Livingston Dell
Shaobo Qin as Yen
Carl Reiner as Saul Bloom
Don Cheadle as Basher Tarr

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