The Unfettered Critic – July 2018

The saga began like this: In 1958, actor Peter Lawford shared a story told by a gas station attendant with buddy Frank Sinatra. Lawford thought the fanciful caper about robbing five Las Vegas casinos in one night would make for a fun movie project. Sinatra playfully upped the ante: “Forget the movie,” he said. “Let’s pull the job.”

Taking a less larcenous turn, they used the creative nugget as the basis for their 1960 classic heist film Ocean’s 11. Sinatra starred as high-class scammer Danny Ocean, and his “Rat Pack” buddies—Lawford, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Joey Bishop—as part of an eleven-man comically criminal team. The film is fondly remembered, but at the time it received lukewarm reviews, with some critics calling it “boring.” Rumor holds that the most memorable moments between the notorious pals had occurred, unfortunately for audiences, off-camera.

Forty years later, director Steven Soderbergh offered George Clooney the role of Danny Ocean in a fast-paced, updated version of the film. Although Clooney was aware of the old “ho-hum” reviews, he opted to roll the dice on the remake. This time around, Danny wants to rob only three casinos on the Las Vegas strip, but the elaborate plan he orchestrates, from shutting down power in the entire town, to adding an acrobatic contortionist to the team, spotlighted the singular intention of the caper and the filmmakers: boys just wanna have fun. The electricity generated by this new generation of friends—Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, and others—flowed through in full force. The 2001 film was a mega-hit, inspiring two sequels: Ocean’s Twelve and Ocean’s Thirteen.

Which brings us to Hollywood’s latest take on the numbers game: Ocean’s 8. Although it’s ostensibly a sequel to the Clooney trilogy, you may be wondering, “Why the smaller number?” Because, as it turns out, you need only eight women to pull off a heist that would have required eleven men. (What—you’re surprised?)

Ocean’s 8 stars Sandra Bullock as Debbie Ocean (Danny’s sister, for continuity’s sake). Recently released from prison for a crime involving an ex-lover who double-crossed her, Debbie recruits six—and later a seventh—women to steal a $150 million diamond necklace from New York’s Metropolitan Museum. The caper brings together the grandest distaff assemblage of talent in years: Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, Sara Paulson, Mindy Kaling, singer Rihanna and rapper Awkwafina.

The necklace at the center of this heist has been stored in an underground vault for fifty years. Debbie had spent her time in prison carefully plotting how to bring the precious piece into the light, and how to make it available to the gang for a single private moment. Her solution is intelligent, entertaining, and, yes, equally as improbable as the plot twists in the previous Ocean entries. With the film’s glistening emphasis on “entertaining,” however, such a trifle doesn’t matter.

We’d be remiss if we don’t point out an additional star of the movie: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The museum’s curators gave the filmmakers unprecedented access to the building, and allowed great views of masterpieces by Van Gogh, Modigliani, and more. If visiting this New York treasure seems an unobtainable personal goal, Ocean’s 8 offers a tantalizing tour for the price of a movie ticket.

As fun as all this is, there’s yet another reason to savor this caper, one that resonates perfectly in today’s “Me Too” era. As Helena Bonham Carter recently stated in The Hollywood Reporter: “We can play dishonest, corrupt, morally bankrupt people as well as men.”

No argument here.