Plot
Danny Ocean and his eleven accomplices plan to rob three Las Vegas casinos simultaneously.
Release Year: 2001
Rating: 7.7/10 (190,897 voted)
Critic's Score: 74/100
Director:
Steven Soderbergh
Stars: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts
Storyline Danny Ocean wants to score the biggest heist in history. He combines an eleven member team, including Frank Catton, Rusty Ryan and Linus Caldwell. Their target? The Bellagio, the Mirage and the MGM Grand. All casinos owned by Terry Benedict. It's not going to be easy, as they plan to get in secretly and out with $150 million.
Writers: George Clayton Johnson, Jack Golden Russell
Cast: George Clooney
-
Danny Ocean
Cecelia Ann Birt
-
Board Member #1
(voice)
(as CeCeLia Birt)
Paul L. Nolan
-
Board Member #2
(voice)
Carol Florence
-
Board Member #3
(voice)
Lori Galinski
-
Blackjack Dealer
Bernie Mac
-
Frank Catton
Brad Pitt
-
Rusty Ryan
Mark Gantt
-
Bartender
Timothy Paul Perez
-
Security Guard
Elliott Gould
-
Reuben Tishkoff
Frank Patton
-
Lockbox Carrier
Casey Affleck
-
Virgil Malloy
Scott Caan
-
Turk Malloy
Eddie Jemison
-
Livingston Dell
Jorge R. Hernandez
-
FBI Man #1
Taglines:
3 Casinos. 11 Guys. 150 Million Bucks. Ready To Win Big?
Filming Locations: 999 N Patencio, Palm Springs, California, USA
Box Office Details
Budget: $85,000,000
(estimated)
Opening Weekend: $38,107,822
(USA)
(9 December 2001)
(3075 Screens)
Gross: $450,717,150
(Worldwide)
(2002)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
The boxing match that takes place in the MGM Grand is between Lennox Lewis and Wladimir Klitschko. These two have never fought, but on June 21, 2003, Lewis fought Vladimir's older brother, Vitali Klitschko.
Goofs:
Continuity:
At the beginning of the transportation scene the car salesman has two pens in his jacket pocket, then he only has one in the next scene. He then shakes Frank Catton's hand and they again show him having two pens. After he makes a deal for $16,000 they show him with only one pen. (not visible in widescreen version)
Quotes:
[first lines]
[At Parole Hearing]
Woman's Voice:
Good Morning. Danny:
Morning.
Woman's Voice:
Please state your name for the record. Danny:
Daniel Ocean.
User Review
Fresh faced, extremely cool and slick – yes it's shallow but so what? Eat popcorn and enjoy
Rating:
Freshly released from jail Danny Ocean begins to recruit key players to put
together a job as daring as it is dangerous - the safe that holds the money
for 3 casinos belonging to Terry Benedict. As well as splitting the $150
million between the gang, Danny also plans to steal back his ex-wife Tess
who is currently dating Benedict.
The first movie wasn't exactly brilliant - only really interesting because
it brought the whole rat pack together onscreen for the first time. This
could have easily fallen into the same trap - trading purely on the stars'
names rather than an intrinsic entertainment value. However it manages to
take what worked from the original and give it a great modern shine. The
story is daft of course, but it moves forward with a sort of slick illogical
cleverness that appears wonderfully clever but is, of course, highly
unlikely! The story unfolds in an entertaining manner, the build up is
great with no dull moments as we meet the characters and find out the
details of the job bit by bit.
The job itself is well handled. It is so slick that you don't mind that it
couldn't possibly work in real life, but instead it just appears so clever!
The romantic subplot I found to be a little redundant and I didn't think
that Clooney and Roberts had good chemistry - compared to Clooney and Lopez
in another great Sodenberg film `Out of Sight' where the screen crackled!
However it takes up little screen time and compliments the heist quite well.
Sodenberg handles the film well and doesn't allow his direction to be slick
without substance - the editing is clever and Las Vegas internally and
externally looks great.
Clooney is fantastic in the lead - his strength is that he has great
charisma which means he doesn't have to ham it up. Instead he does his
stuff but allows others to try and shine while he is comfortable with a
constant warm glow. Pitt does likewise - he doesn't try to hog the glory
but hangs around being smooth for most of the time. This allows Pitt and
Clooney to be the two leads without taking away from the ensemble feel -
they also have a good relationship going here. Roberts is OK but didn't
convince me that Clooney would risk so much for her. Affleck and Cann are
good in a sort of comedy double act role - they don't have a lot of scenes
but they are funny. Old hands Gould (so good to see him on the big screen)
and Carl Riener effortlessly steal all their scenes and Matt Damon seems
happy to be on a smaller part than the other stars and has a rookie sort of
role. Andy Garcia has a poor role as the bad guy and doesn't manage to
bring him to life - although he does make him unlikeable when next to
Clooney. However, Don Cheadle, a great actor, needs a real kicking for
ruining things with a terrible cockney accent that makes Dick Van Dyke sound
genuine. Happily he doesn't actually have that many lines - and he only has
two scenes where he has to say more than 2 sentences at a time - but really
he is just terrible. Someone please explain - why his character is English?
Then someone explain - why they just didn't get an English star to play
it?
Overall any criticisms against this are minor and are missing the point.
It's not meant to be a classic or get Sodenberg more Oscar nominations.
Instead it's a slick little package that is kept afloat by a starry cast, a
cool soundtrack and a nice (if silly) plot. Sit, watch, chill, enjoy,
forget.
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