Ocean's Eleven

This new version of the classic heist movie is of course slick: sharply written, acted competently, the stunts and special effects well-made. Still, I can’t say I liked it too much. It was sufficient to entertain, I suppose, but will quickly fade from memory. Then again, the action drama genre is not what I call home. You throw in some humor and you stand a chance of holding my attention, which it just about managed. The hero wanting to get his ex-back is easy to cause traps of stereotypical behavior, and this script fell into some of them. Tess Ocean comes off as one of Terry Benedict’s possessions through much of the film. He shows her deference and she srands by his side, but where is there even a flicker offeelings between them? And actually, there is hardly more emotion between her and the hero come to rescue her. So I give this film a less than rousing “It’s okay,” and will move on.