GEORGE Clooney and his slick group of casino thieves have had their fun, thrice over. Now it’s time for the girls to get in on the caper. While the actual thieving spectacle itself feels less consequential and thrilling than any of its namesake predecessors, there’s something inherently enjoyable about seeing this stellar cast of women quite literally having a ball.
Sandra Bullock suits up as Debbie Ocean, hitherto unheard-of sister of Clooney’s Danny, who has just got out of prison with a heist she’s been planning for the entirety of her five-plus years behind bars.
Once out she starts enlisting the help of other light-fingered friends, each with their own expertise. They include savvy right-hand woman and old friend Lou (Cate Blanchett), stolen goods handler-turned-housewife Tammy (Sarah Paulson), sleight-of-hand street thief Constance (Awkwafina), jeweller Amita (Mindy Kaling), hacker Nine Ball (Rihanna) and dress designer Rose (Helena Bonham Carter).
Their target is New York City’s prestigious and exclusive Met Gala Ball and specifically Anne Hathaway’s actress character Daphne Kluger who, through some nifty planning on the team’s part, is set to wear an antique diamond necklace worth around $150 million.
The fun of this franchise spin-off is not so much in the execution of the heist but in the planning stages. The lack of rivalry that propelled the 2001 film – the team wanting to best Andy Garcia’s greedy casino owner – means it does feel less substantial. And while perfectly fine, Gary Ross’s direction is somewhat pedestrian and far from the stylistic playfulness of Steven Soderbergh’s trilogy.
So it’s a testament, then, to the witty script and the chemistry between the well-chosen cast that it sails along nicely as a piece of escapist, star-studded Hollywood entertainment. It’s just flat-out entertaining to spend time in their company, each getting ample chance to shine, kitted out in designer clothes and sparking off one another’s sly line delivery with a kind of sharpness as rare and precious as the diamonds they’re planning to steal.
Like the much and unfairly attacked female-led Ghostbusters reboot, they leave no doubt they’re entirely aware of the film’s status as an unashamedly flashy crime caper now being led by those without a Y chromosome. Refreshingly, the film never resorts to cattiness for the sake of it.
“A him gets noticed, a her gets ignored. For once we want to be ignored,” Bullock proclaims with a glint in her eye as she explains why the group should be all-female. It’s this sort of self-aware vein of humour, coupled with the undeniable cast chemistry, which helps make the whole thing tick like an expensive Swiss watch.
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