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Compiled by: Jack Foley
THEY'RE back and, according to some, cooler than ever.
The ultra-hip crew behind Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's 11 - that's
George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia and affiliates
- have returned for the sequel, Ocean's 12, and the US reaction
has largely been positive.
Kicking off the good reviews are Ebert and Roeper,
who said that 'the film itself is like a glossy European fashion
magazine come to life, with beautiful location shots, stylish
direction from Steve Soderbergh and comfortable, winking performances'.
While Variety stated that 'it's the most high-end
junk food imaginable, completely unnourishing and forgettable
afterward, but delicious and all but impossible not to enjoy while
it's in front of you'.
And USA Today felt that 'the real-life camaraderie
of Clooney, Pitt, Damon and the rest translates to the screen
with charm and verve'.
Strong, too, was the Dallas Morning News, which
felt that 'Ocean's Twelve works like a short-term charm. In several
years, you won't remember much about the movie except what a good
time you had watching it'.
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The slick crime caper did not rub off on everyone, however, with
several alluding to the possibility that they had been conned
out of a certain amount of entertainment.
Entertainment Weekly, for instance, wrote that
'what's on screen is lazy, second-rate, phoned-in - a heist in
which it's the audience whose pockets have been picked'.
While the Los Angeles Times felt that it is
'a lethargic would-be entertainment as well as a dispiriting vanity
project, it is such a misfire that it makes it hard to remember
what was special about its predecessor'.
And Slant Magazine felt that 'there’s
so much mugging in this film that I kept checking my pockets to
see if my wallet was missing'.
Disappointed, too, was the San Jose Mercury News,
which lamented: "With Ocean's Twelve, Hollywood moves a step
closer to the glorious day when it will no longer have to rouse
itself to the bothersome task of making movies at all, skipping
straight ahead to what the studios truly care about: the marketing
campaign."
But returning to the positives, Village Voice
opined that 'the movie noisily conveys the messy joy of its making,
and insists that you have a good time as well'.
While the Chicago Tribune declared that 'this
movie often seems like a big, swinging party with a can't-miss
guest list'.
And Netflix stated: "Sassy, classy con
flick sequel is like jazz improv from a room full of pros - smooth,
stylish and swingin' fun."
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