Remakes usually suck.  Rarely are they even CLOSE to being on the same level with the original.  They tend to try to "top" their predecessor and therefore be known as "The Best One".  Didn't happen this time.  Didn't even come close.  With all the publicity about this "great" cast I thought I was really in for a treat.  I went in TRYING not to compare the two and it turned out THAT was easy.  The two stories are completely different.  The only things the same are the name Danny Ocean and the fact that they knock off a Vegas Casino.

George Clooney IS Danny Ocean, a New Jersey Convict just "back from the dead".  He comes out of stir with "The Plan" and starts recruiting hours after his release.  His first stop is Bernie Mac who never got to use his comedic genius in a small role.  Brad Pitt was the standout character with slick and witty lines.  Matt Damon should have stayed home as it looked like they had him there JUST for his name.  Same with Julia Roberts who is REALLY one funny lookin broad (I don't get that one), shows up just enough to put a small, final twist to the story.  Others in the cast were Andy Garcia who plays a rich bastard to the T, Elliot Gould, Carl Reiner who hasn't lost his touch and was THE MAN, Scott Caan (Son of James) and Don Cheadle who has a HEAVY Limey accent that added a nice touch.

One would think that with the above cast that "treat" that I spoke of would have been there.  It wasn't.  The characters never meshed and the Director, Steven Soderbergh (Traffic...2000) relied way too much on the "names" in the cast instead of the substance of the story.  Was it as good as the first Ocean'sEleven?  No.  The other was an "original story" and we had never seen anything like that before.  On it's own merit, was this a good picture?  Yes, it was good but FAR from great.  Had I not seen the first one, I would have liked this one better.  They brought that on themselves by using the title Ocean's Eleven.  They should have called it Desert's Ten or Twelve or something else.

RECOMMENDATION:  Rent, or better yet, BUY the original.  How can you top "The Rat Pack"?  You can't.

TWO VERY MARGINAL THUMBS UP.....JUST BECAUSE!

Movie Review © 2001 by Terry Anderson