Ocean's Thirteen

Steven Soderbergh is possibly Hollywood's best example of the on the rise "one for us, one for them" mentality used to describe artists who balance box office fodder with more artistic work. In between churning out these popcorn chomping friendly sequels to his original remake of Ocean's Eleven, he delivers some of the most audacious film work on the indie scene. Most recently, he gave us the small town murder mystery masterpiece Bubble and last year's inventive and overlooked nostalgic Third Man/Casablanca smash up The Good German. Now he's back to cheeky heist games with Ocean's Thirteen, the follow up to his own self-confessed dud sequel Ocean's Twelve. While all the slapstick and no brainers in this third go round still make this franchise feel more like a recreational activity for Soderbergh and his megastar cast than an actual series of cohesive features, this one easily exceeds the hapless, unfunny, and bafflingly loopy antics he pulled the last time around.

The plot here (yes, they do have one this time) centers on Elliot Gould's character Reuben getting double crossed on a big casino deal by old friend Willie Bank (Al Pacino) and the revenge mission that follows. Danny Ocean (George Clooney) begins plotting ways to get back at Bank for his mistreatment of Reuben and soon he has the whole gang involved including, among many others, Matt Damon as Linus, Brad Pitt as Rusty, and Don Cheadle as Basher. Ellen Barkin also joins the cast as Abigail Sponder, the primo assistant to Bank and gateway to a certain stash of desirable merchandise. It's one of the great absurdities in the film that with a cast this vast and talented most everyone just plays it cool and mildly silly. It's perhaps the most casual collection of performances you'll see in any film anywhere, but the likable leads thankfully play it straight with ease enough to keep their mild performances breezy and undistracting.

This is a far less convoluted and reflexive romp than Ocean's Twelve and while it's hard to really gush over something so slight (even if it's purposely so), I will say that Soderbergh and his cast execute this slick, stylish thriller extremely well, with just enough goofiness to keep the laughs coming but the story relevant (a vital flaw for Twelve). It won't bowl you over, but it's a definite good time.

Grade: B