Ocean’s Thirteen

George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Al Pacino, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Elliott Gould

Dir. Steven Soderbergh
Scr. Brian Koppelman & David Levien

Ocean’s Thirteen is an entertaining movie. It’s not going to change the world or extend your horizons or make you think about life, the universe and everything. But, so what? Most people go to the movies to be entertained and this film delivers in spades.

The gang’s back. In Ocean’s Eleven, they conned Andy Garcia (and we were heartedly amused). In Ocean’s Twelve, they stole some art (and lost their way in the plot department). In Thirteen they are out to avenge one of their own (Elliott Gould’s character, who is cheated and left for dead by Willie Bank, played with relish by Al Pacino). The setting is pure Rat Pack stuff – a huge (and monstrously ugly) casino and hotel in Las Vegas. There is simply too much plot to outline here, so let’s just say Bank gets his comeuppance in a litany of clever ways, utilising some cool gadgets, a lot of smarts and buckets of luck.

One thing I like about these movies, as well as the original on which they are based, is that it’s all a big in-joke. Watching George and Brad and Matt, you feel like you’re along for the ride but not always up to speed on what is exactly going on. Keep up as best you can and delight at the ending when everything becomes perfectly clear. Just as Frank, Dean and Sammy had a ball on set, you can tell that the cast of Thirteen are having the time of their lives. It’s slightly voyeuristic, in fact – the banter and jokes seem so real you sometimes feel like you’re watching George and Brad simply messing around. Which, with the help of Soderbergh and a budget of several million, they pretty much are. It’s fun. End of story. If you’re looking for anything else, you’ve come to the wrong movie.

There are some seriously funny moments in Thirteen. Rusty (Pitt) busting Ocean (Clooney) shedding a tear while watching Oprah. The two youngsters in the Thirteen gang nearly starting a worker’s revolution in Mexico. And when I wasn’t laughing the big laughs, I was chuckling away at the clever dialogue. I love the conversations between Clooney and Pitt – fragments of sentences, finishing each other’s thoughts. They both have superb timing and an intimacy of real friends.

Ocean’s Thirteen is an easy movie to like. Go expecting to escape reality for a couple of hours and have a giggle, and you won’t be disappointed.

--------------------

Willie Bank: “This town might have changed, but not me. I know people highly invested in my survival, and they are people who really know how to hurt in ways you can't even imagine.” Danny Ocean: “Well, I know all the guys that you'd hire to come after me, and they like me better than you.”