“It’s the new 11” so goes the tag line. And like the first round it’s got the elegance, hot locations and enough eye candy of a cast, to give you cavities. George Clooney is back as Danny Ocean now married to Tess (Julia Roberts) and living in wedded bliss from the millions they stole in Vegas from Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia). When Benedict finds and demands his money back from the Oceans 11 gang, the entire crew including Rusty (Brad Pitt) and Linus (Matt Damon) join forces to pull off a new rob job to pay Benedict back – this time a Faberge egg, some expensive artwork and antiques. But like the museum quality paintings they go after, the movie feels like an abstract, barely able to communicate with its audience. Director Steve Soderbergh manages to keep his viewer at a distance in delivering a level of hip and laid back feeling through this stellar cast that often mumbles their dialog. It’s like watching a postcard move through Europe with a glimpse of somebody else’s party (the stars had a lot of fun making this movie. And a lot of nice wardrobe changes.) The problem isn’t the cast or acting, however, it’s the plot that fails in more ways than one. When the final twist is delivered by Vincent Cassell (their new theft competitor) we realize the whole movie wasn’t necessary. Not to mention that the teenager next to me said, “Why didn’t they just kill off Benedict since they have no heart or care about people anyway?” Good question. Out of the mouths of babes.
