A reboot of a remake is about as meta a commentary of Hollywood's current state of originality as one is likely to find. Still, "Ocean's 8" brings a refreshingly unpretentious quality to this all-female, numerically scaled-down heist tale, yielding a movie that's pleasant, mildly fun and the gender switch notwithstanding, a bit of an old-fashioned throwback.
Sandra Bullock is the Ocean of the title, Debbie, the sister of George Clooney's
character Danny in
"Ocean's 11." Just released from prison, she quickly
sets about acquiring luxury items (in one of the more amusing
sequences), then begins rapidly assembling a team to pull off the
massive jewel caper -- intended to yield millions per woman -- that
she's spent the last several years assiduously planning.
Cate
Blanchett serves as Debbie's former partner and level-headed right
hand, who's not especially thrilled when she discovers there's a modest
revenge piece baked into the scheme.
After that, the pair dutifully
recruits the various specialists they'll need: a hacker (Rihanna), fence
(Sarah Paulson), jewel expert (Mindy Kaling), pickpocket (Awkwafina)
and fashion designer (Helena Bonham Carter), the last of those necessary
to gain access to the Met Gala, where she'll be outfitting a pampered
actress played by Anne Hathaway, who again makes the most of an
opportunity to demonstrate her comedy chops.
As
with "Ocean's Eleven" -- the original rat pack incarnation and the
sequel-begetting 2001 remake -- everyone seems to be having a pretty
good time, which gives a playful, breezy quality to the relatively thin
material.
Indeed, Bullock is the
only character with even a hint of a backstory, and while the callbacks
to the concept's sire are relatively minor, they add just enough of a
connection to provide a little extra kick.
Of
course, this "Ocean's" follows the all-female "Ghostbusters" reboot,
and almost surely benefits from the near-fuming reaction to that
exercise. As a bonus, this franchise doesn't come saddled with a fanboy
contingent invested enough to label this a sacrilegious blight on their
childhoods.
Directed by Gary Ross
(who shared script credit with Olivia Milch), "Ocean's 8" does come
close to bogging down, perhaps inevitably, in the dense particulars of
enacting the elaborate plot at the Met, before rallying during its
aftermath.
While the film clearly
won't earn many points for originality, the enjoyable parts of this
latest wrinkle on the heist movie ultimately manage to come away with a
pretty solid score.
"Ocean's 8" premieres June 8 in the U.S. It's rated PG-13.
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