Ocean's Eleven (Blu-ray) (2001)

"...slick, sleek, and stylish, and if it doesn't quite redefine cool, it certainly offers a snazzy update.  Jay Carr, Boston Globe
"...one expertly made piece of pure, unpretentious popcorn entertainment.  Michael Dequina, Film Threat
"One thoroughbred of a movie. Sleek, well-muscled and brisk...  Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post
"...a scrumptious and dizzy-spirited lark...the sheer speed and cleverness of the caper hits you like a shot of pure oxygen.  Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
"Forget Oscar, Ocean's Eleven is the coolest damned thing around.  Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

Editor's Note Loosely based on the 1960 Rat Pack film of the same name, OCEAN'S 11 is a hi-tech crime comedy that features a top-notch cast. Con man Danny Ocean (George Clooney) has just been released from a four-year jail term and decides that his first order of business is robbing three Las Vegas casinos owned by the slimy Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia). To pull off this nearly impossible task, he quickly assembles an eclectic crew--including a card shark (Brad Pitt), a pickpocket (Matt Damon), an explosives expert (Don Cheadle), and an aging gambler (Carl Reiner)--and seeks financial backing from a freewheeling casino mogul (Elliott Gould) who holds a grudge against Benedict. However, it soon becomes apparent that Ocean has more at stake than money and his newly found freedom--his ex-wife, Tess (Julia Roberts), just happens to be Benedict's new girlfriend. Can Ocean steal back Tess's heart and more than a hundred million dollars at the same time? Continuing an impressive streak of films that began with OUT OF SIGHT and THE LIMEY and exploded into even wider acclaim and popularity with ERIN BROCKOVICH and TRAFFIC, Steven Soderbergh helms this star-studded caper flick with a strong sense of style and humor. Clooney and Pitt, in particular, have a great rapport and both exude a suave, laid-back charm. Damon, Cheadle, Gould, and Reiner all provide excellent comic turns, while Garcia gives an appropriately sinister performance. The whole glittery package is topped off by David Holmes' engaging score, which ties together the sounds and moods of Hollywood past and present.

	Andy Garcia
	Bernie Mac
	Brad Pitt
	Carl Reiner
	George Clooney
	Julia Roberts
	Matt Damon
	Scott Caan
	Bruce Berman - Executive Producer
	David Holmes - Original Music By
	Harry Brown, et. al. - Based On Screenplay By
	Jerry Weintraub - Producer
	Keith P. Cunningham - Art Director
	Stephen Mirrione - Editor
	Steven Soderbergh - Cinematographer
	Steven Soderbergh - Director
	Ted Griffin - Screenplay

New York Times
"...[Soderbergh] rallies a seismic jolt of enthusiasm, and the movie is an elating blaze of flair and pride..." 12/07/2001 p.E1

Box Office
"...A fun heist movie....There are many clever exchanges, particularly between Clooney and Pitt..." 01/01/2002 p.59

Variety
"...Clooney and Soderbergh make it happen....[The] entire cast seems spontaneous and relaxed..." 12/03/2001 p.33-7

Sight and Sound
"...Purely in terms of colour palette, Soderbergh has no peer..." 03/01/2002 p.53

Total Film
"...It's Soderbergh's soufflé-light, super-bright direction and the actor's throbbing charisma that makes OCEAN'S ELEVEN as dazzling as The Strip itself..." 03/01/2002 p.92-3

Chicago Sun-Times
"...Amusing....[With] some nice dialogue..." 03/03/2002 p.32

Entertainment Weekly
"...Soderbergh leads his cast through an exercise in splendidly deadpan form over content..." 05/10/2002 p.56

Uncut
"Never has 21st-century Vegas looked so seductive." 07/01/2004 p.131

ReelViews 8 of 10
The good news is that the 2001 version of Ocean's Eleven represents one of the rarest of Hollywood rarities: a re-make that is actually better than the original. That's not to say that this motion picture is an unqualified success - one tends to expect a little more from a director of Steven Soderbergh's caliber. However, 2001's Ocean's Eleven moves along at an enjoyable clip and relies on more than the notoriety of its stars to pack movie theaters. The 1960 original was a sluggish, unimpressive caper comedy...When producer Jerry Weintraub, director Soderbergh, and actor George Clooney elected to re-make Ocean's Eleven, they rectified some of the earlier movie's glaring faults. So, while this is a re-make in the sense that it borrows the 1960 picture's title and premise, there are many, many differences, almost all of which represent improvements. - James Berardinelli

Chicago Sun-Times 8 of 10
This is a standard genre picture, a remake of the 1960 Frank Sinatra caper, and Soderbergh, who usually aims higher, does it as a sort of lark. It's slick, all right: directors this good don't usually handle material this routine. It has yearnings above its natural level, as if hoping to redeem itself and metamorphose into a really good movie...As movie capers go, the specifics in "Ocean's Eleven" are not necessarily state of the art. I can think of more ingeniously executed plans, most recently in "The Score," but then this is not a movie about suspense but about suavity. Clooney and Roberts deliberately evoke the elegance of stars like Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman, Garcia is as smooth, groomed, polished and tailored as George Raft, and the movie blessedly ends not with a shootout but with a complicated plot finesse. I enjoyed it. It didn't shake me up and I wasn't much involved, but I liked it as a five-finger exercise. - Roger Ebert