The real heist of “Ocean’s 8” is how they managed to fool us into thinking this was something new. Gary Ross’s film is effectively a remake of Steven Soderbergh’s “Ocean’s 11,” but with a gender-flipped cast. And instead of a radical experiment, a fresh point of view on a spectacularly male franchise, “Ocean’s 8” is an incredibly safe, unassuming, if amusing, retread with some slightly different faces.
“Ocean’s 8” starts just as Soderbergh’s film does. Danny Ocean is up for parole, but this time it’s Debbie Ocean, played with George Clooney’s same suave charm by Sandra Bullock. She’s been spending her entire prison stint concocting a brilliant heist, and now she’ll assemble a team and make it happen. Also, Danny Ocean is dead…maybe.
You know, you don’t actually have to do this, Elliot Gould explains to Debbie in a cameo. Sometimes just knowing you can pull off the job is satisfaction enough. To hear that line, it sets decidedly low stakes for “Ocean’s 8.” Even Debbie Ocean is only in it for the thrill and precision of the heist and little of substance, so why are we?
But beyond being a frivolous popcorn movie, Ross’s take on “Ocean’s” doesn’t quite have the style or the air tight, unpredictability of Soderbergh’s film. “It’s always the attention to detail that makes something sing,” Anne Hathaway’s character says to that point. So true.
At the same time, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what’s missing from Ross’s film. The shift from the seedy, garish streets of the Vegas strip to the pristine world of New York socialites and high fashion has something to do with the change in tone. It’s also missing a compelling Andy Garcia or a Julia Roberts character as a plausible villain or love interest that could give Debbie’s job a better reason for being.
But the real failing seems to be that this incredible cast of women is just subbing in for their male counterparts. Cate Blanchett is the slightly off, but very on, number two to Debbie, capable of seeing through her BS, so much so the movie hits the same plot beat as the original (at this point I’m entirely ignoring the ‘60s “Ocean’s 11″) when she threatens to walk away upon learning Bullock’s hidden agenda. Blanchett’s short blonde hair even feels like a dead ringer for Brad Pitt’s circa the early 2000s.
Then there’s Helena Bonham Carter as a washed up fashion designer. We meet her hilariously scarfing down a jar of Nutella on the floor in an act of depression, and this is a welcome turn for a capable actress who has been stuck playing weirdos in Tim Burton movies for more than a decade. Rihanna, Mindy Kaling and Awkafina are each odd balls themselves, getting momentary flashes of personality and comic relief amid the carefully laid exposition. And Sarah Paulson could easily be the Matt Damon character, formerly a smuggler, now a square mom reluctantly back in the job.
Their score? Steal a Cartier necklace valued at over $150 million off the neck of starlet Daphne Kluger (Anne Hathaway), who will wear it to the Met Gala, if they can convince her first. And Hathaway is really having the most fun here, playing a snively, spoiled, airheaded princess. There’s nothing pleasant about this side of Hathaway, and loving to hate her might be the film’s stand-out.
But “Ocean’s 11” was like “The Avengers” before that was a thing. It mashed up literally a dozen different personalities into one movie and didn’t make it feel overstuffed. “Ocean’s 8” is spread too thin. It has flashes of style, glamour, humor and suspense, but not nearly enough of everything it would need to pull this heist off without a hitch.
2 ½ stars