A reboot of the Ocean's 11 franchise, this movie is an effervescent delight that recalls everything that was great about the original movie (when I say original, I mean the 2001 remake, not the original 1960 film starring the Rat Pack). It gets the two most important elements exactly right: the cast and the heist. The heist needs to be an intricately plotted, dizzying spectacle that is just a little too audacious but still plausible, while the cast needs to be a gang of actors who can banter with each other and bring their individual charms and skills to the table. Considering Sandra Bullock and Cate Blanchett are the equivalents of Clooney and Pitt in this film, I'd say the casting director deserves an Oscar.
Bullock and Blanchett aren't the only casting coup, however. We also have Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Helena Bonham Carter, Rihanna, Awkwafina, and Anne Hathaway. Instead of the bro-y landscape of Las Vegas and ostentatious casinos, this movie is set in New York at the annual Met Gala, and the target is a $150 million Cartier diamond necklace adorning the neck of a very obnoxious leading lady, Daphne Kluger (Hathaway). Bullock plays the ringleader, Debbie Ocean, sister to the deceased (or maybe not?) Danny Ocean. Killing him off is a nice touch - while there are some Ocean's 11 cameos to watch out for, these ladies aren't waiting around for Clooney to show up with some grand plan. Debbie's been in prison for five years and has had plenty of time to plan out the perfect heist herself.
Like with any great heist movie, the devil is in the details, so I shall divulge no further plot or character points as those need to be savored on screen as you watch the plan unfold. However, I will launch into a discussion of what a refreshingly female movie this is. There's none of the bitchiness or catty backstabbing one gets when you're dealing with male studio executives trying to imagine what female friendships are like. Instead, writers Gary Ross and Olivia Milch have pulled together this insanely talented ensemble and let them be intelligent women who work well together. The Daphne Kluger character is the closest you get to stereotype, but watch out for that one. And the other characters are all dealing with various female complications, but take on this heist as a way to develop their own agency and get a cool payout so they can live the lives they always wanted. Mindy Kaling's character is being harassed by old Indian aunties to get married, while Sarah Paulson's character lives in the suburbs with her kids and is running some kind of illegal side business out of her garage whilst dreaming of bigger and better crimes. Most interestingly, at no point do we focus on any of these women's partners (apart from the one douchebag who has a very appropriate role to play in the heist).
The script is great, the women are excellent, and the twists and turns are edgily subversive and offer up a meta commentary on the expected roles of women in big studio pictures. Towards the end, some older actresses have cameos and it's rather wonderful to see them having fun in a blockbuster since we generally send older actresses out to pasture once their wrinkles appear. The production design of the Met Gala is astounding, and as I am a sucker for anything set in New York, and particularly for anything featuring my beloved paintings at the Met, I was all for this film. And of course, what more appropriate tribute to signal the end of the heist than to play Nancy Sinatra's These Boots Are Made For Walkin'? Nancy's father may have originated the role of Danny Ocean in 1960, but I for one am glad to see his legacy taken over by this spectacular group of women. At one point Blanchett's character asks Debbie why she is only recruiting women. Debbie replies, "because we want to be ignored." Well damn. No one's ignoring you now, ladies.
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