Loitering in the background, generally snacking, he delivers a quiet performance that suggests the hidden strengths beyond his pretty boy looks.

Yet, special mention has to go to Brad Pitt. Damon relishes his role out of the limelight as the new kid on the block, while his same-age team-mates, Casey Affleck and Scott Caan, go for laughs.ĭon Cheadle does a cockney accent to rival Dick Van Dyke, but somehow gets away with it, and Elliott Gould and Carl Reiner do some grade A scene-stealing without unbalancing the movie. Watch for the scene where she crosses the casino floor switching her allegiance from one man to another - that's a definite movie star scene. Garcia is just bad enough to want to destroy, and Roberts elusive enough to be the natural object of affection. Few directors have made their stars look as high-wattage. Soderbergh's pacing leaves scant room for fidgeting, and the story spills out frame by frame so that plots can twist just seconds faster than you can cotton on.Ĭlooney's generous headlining performance gives plenty of scope to showcase the rest of the talent, and no-one here is lacking. This is entertainment of the effortless order.

Soderbergh's film is just as much of an event and, more importantly, it has taken the essence of what was good about the first film and given it a new millennium polish, with a cast who don't buckle under the weight of expectation.īar a few in-jokes for the old school fans, no prior knowledge is necessary. Vegas and the entire Rat Pack on screen for the first time made it an event picture. The original Ocean's Eleven wasn't a five-star movie.

Ocean's 11 casino