Clooney
About the movie
Ocean's Thirteen
Rating: 
Cast:
Don Cheadle; Ellen Barkin; Casey Affleck; Scott Caan; George Clooney; Al Pacino; Brad Pitt; Matt Damon; Bernie Mac; Andy Garcia
Directed by:
Steven Soderbergh
On the web:
READER FEEDBACK
'OCEAN'S THIRTEEN" begins with a tribute to new cast member Al Pacino, who has an early confrontation in the movie with Danny Ocean.
"What I want," Danny says, "what's most important to me..."
The rest is inconsequential, but those particular words are not — they are of course cribbed from Michael Corleone's speech in "The Godfather" to the man who tried to murder his father. George Clooney, as Danny, is clowning around with Pacino by tossing in an in-joke for "Godfather" fans, exactly the kind of celebrity high jinks that are supposed to occur in this kind of neo-Rat Pack playground.
There are more meta-jokes about the "Godfather" series ingrained in the script: Danny wants revenge against Pacino's character, a guy named Bank, because he's just pulled a Mo Green on one of Ocean's pals, muscling him out of his new casino. It's called the Bank, and it's the biggest, newest, most garish thing on the Vegas strip, which is saying something.
Ocean rounds up the usual suspects (Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Bernie Mac, Carl Reiner, Scott Caan, Casey Affleck, etc.) for an elaborate revenge plot designed to break the Bank on the day of its grand opening.
The plot involves a half-dozen table swindles and a fake earthquake, and the weakest section of the movie finds director Steven Soderbergh explaining how all this is going to work, like we care.
The character jokes work better. Damon's nerdy con man tries to demonstrate his cool-guy credentials by volunteering for the romantic-ace part of the scheme — he tries to seduce Bank's second-in-command (Ellen Barkin, being a very good sport).
The top laugh-getter, though, has Danny — whose unflappable confidence makes him the very essence of the confidence man — losing his composure while watching Oprah Winfrey give away a house.
This is also more than a throwaway gag — writers find a way to work Winfrey's charitable impulse into the script. Times have changed, Rat Packs have changed, celebrity and stardom have changed — one of the in-jokes, for instance, is aimed at Pitt's growing brood of children with celebrity adopter Angelina Jolie. (Try to imagine that gag flying around among Sammy, Frank and Dean. )
Does this do-gooding make "Ocean's Thirteen" less cool, or more? Few celebs are as savvy as Clooney. He seems to sense that being a rich, handsome guy who beats the house all the time can end up looking a little smug.
And maybe there's a method to the "Godfather" gags as well. "Ocean's Thirteen" isn't great, but as third installments go, it's better than "Godfather III." *
Produced by Jerry Weintraub, directed by Steven Soderbergh, written by Brian Koppelman and David Levien, music by David Holmes, distributed by Warner Bros.
"What I want," Danny says, "what's most important to me..."
The rest is inconsequential, but those particular words are not — they are of course cribbed from Michael Corleone's speech in "The Godfather" to the man who tried to murder his father. George Clooney, as Danny, is clowning around with Pacino by tossing in an in-joke for "Godfather" fans, exactly the kind of celebrity high jinks that are supposed to occur in this kind of neo-Rat Pack playground.
There are more meta-jokes about the "Godfather" series ingrained in the script: Danny wants revenge against Pacino's character, a guy named Bank, because he's just pulled a Mo Green on one of Ocean's pals, muscling him out of his new casino. It's called the Bank, and it's the biggest, newest, most garish thing on the Vegas strip, which is saying something.
Ocean rounds up the usual suspects (Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Bernie Mac, Carl Reiner, Scott Caan, Casey Affleck, etc.) for an elaborate revenge plot designed to break the Bank on the day of its grand opening.
The plot involves a half-dozen table swindles and a fake earthquake, and the weakest section of the movie finds director Steven Soderbergh explaining how all this is going to work, like we care.
The character jokes work better. Damon's nerdy con man tries to demonstrate his cool-guy credentials by volunteering for the romantic-ace part of the scheme — he tries to seduce Bank's second-in-command (Ellen Barkin, being a very good sport).
The top laugh-getter, though, has Danny — whose unflappable confidence makes him the very essence of the confidence man — losing his composure while watching Oprah Winfrey give away a house.
This is also more than a throwaway gag — writers find a way to work Winfrey's charitable impulse into the script. Times have changed, Rat Packs have changed, celebrity and stardom have changed — one of the in-jokes, for instance, is aimed at Pitt's growing brood of children with celebrity adopter Angelina Jolie. (Try to imagine that gag flying around among Sammy, Frank and Dean. )
Does this do-gooding make "Ocean's Thirteen" less cool, or more? Few celebs are as savvy as Clooney. He seems to sense that being a rich, handsome guy who beats the house all the time can end up looking a little smug.
And maybe there's a method to the "Godfather" gags as well. "Ocean's Thirteen" isn't great, but as third installments go, it's better than "Godfather III." *
Produced by Jerry Weintraub, directed by Steven Soderbergh, written by Brian Koppelman and David Levien, music by David Holmes, distributed by Warner Bros.
