Hey folks, Harry here... I had the opportunity to be in the first audience anywhere to see Steven Soderbergh's TRAFFIC... a film that played much longer and a lot more scattershot. At that stage, TRAFFIC was very solid, but not nearly as focused as what won him BEST DIRECTOR this past year. Soderbergh knows how to use the testing process to a 'T', especially when a studio lets him do his thing... and with that Oscar and the success of this past year, he garners the sort of respect from studios that very few get now.
When Moriarty and I received the following test screening review from the testing grounds in Scottsdale, Arizona... I was left a bit bewildered by a sentence near the end of the review... "it's amazing how often they overlook the importance of a good, tight, script." Well, being someone that has read about six drafts (including the shooting script) of OCEAN'S ELEVEN, the key thing I can point out is that the script was extremely tight. However, knowing how Soderbergh directs, he allows his actors a chance to try things, working within the character to make it theirs.
And in this extremely advance print of the film... and by watching it with this audience... Soderbergh was keying in on what played and what didn't. Heck, I've just been through the post process on my TV pilot... in fact, this morning I get my finished edit, and with each edit, it got tighter and tigher... faster and faster. You begin to find the needless self-indulgent moments and trim... you begin to see elements that you need to put in to make it breathe, then as you get closer to the end of it all... the piece is finally ready to sing. Hell, in my pilot we even tested it with some folks and found some things not playing... so they didn't make the cut. Including two spies.
SO, with that I'll out and out guarantee you that while Dr. Jeffrey Korchek has written below a review giving OCEAN'S ELEVEN a 'B'... well, come late December... you'll find that becoming an 'A' to an 'A+'. How do I know? Because it's Steven Soderbergh... and he's the best in town right now!
This is a remake of the caper film made in 1959 starring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., and the group that was known as the coolest of the cool, the Rat Pack.
Clooney’s been really good in films the last few years after B & R; Brad Pitt has stumbled a time or two, but he’s still good, and Julia Roberts — well, she’s currently enjoying a reasonably good streak of movies. Fill in the rest of the roles in this ensemble with some good character actors, add Andy Garcia as the bad guy, and this should be great, right? The nearly completed work print saw its very first test screening with a large audience on 7/24 in Arizona, where it was 108 degrees and people live to go to the movies as a great way to escape the heat. It appeared to only be missing a few opticals — blue and green shots hadn’t been corrected yet, and while they said the music was only a temp track, it was actually pretty decent. When asked if any remembered the 1959 version, few hands went up. It's an old favorite of mine, so I’ve followed the remake a bit over the last year or so.
I wanted to enjoy it, I really did. It had all of the right elements — great cast, glitzy settings, a romantic story driving the caper, and the caper itself was structured pretty well. Clooney’s playing Danny Ocean (the Sinatra character from the original), our leading man, and he gets out of prison. Julia’s his wife, and she’s divorcing him. He really loves her, but now she’s hooked up with Garcia, who’s in charge of the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. Underneath the Bellagio is a Safe & Depository that sets a new standard for security.
Clooney wants two things: first, to get his wife back, and second, to heist a bazillion dollars out of Garcia’s safe. The film has a lot of high-tech heisting tools like in MI2 — slick video pick-ups, and a top-secret device to shut down the power long enough for the heist. In the original, Sinatra’s Pals used dynamite to blow the electrical towers; once done, it took just enough time for the back-up generators to come on to allow for the heist. Same idea, here, which is no surprise, and not a real spoiler. However, the plot device used here had a Big Enough Hole in the idea that you could drive a semi-truck through. Remember the EMP-side effect from an atomic blast? They use that here, but forgot that it would also disable all cars, VCR’s, etc., that carry a microchip. Bad science.
Some great chemistry between Clooney and Pitt; like Paul Newman and Robert Redford in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and great scenes when they were together. Poor Julia didn’t get that much to do but to be The Girl, and she had a couple of good moments. Elliot Gould steals most of the scenes he’s in as the money man backing the heist.
Here’s the bottom line. I really wanted to like it. It reminded me of how I felt and what I thought when Star Trek: TMP first came out. You liked seeing these people together, the visuals were pretty good, there were definitely some good moments, etc. BUT, the movie was empty — there was no heart to it. We’ve had a lot of movies like that in the past few years — The Avengers, Lara Croft, etc. No matter how much money the producers throw at the screen with casting, effects, locations, etc., its amazing how often they overlook the importance of a good, tight, script. It gets a ‘B’ for effort, but misses the mark.
Dr. Jeffrey Korchek
And now we have this look...
Harry, I didn't want to send any advance word on the movie, but after reading the other review, I had to send my two cents in (no spoilers are included here). I too was at the Scottsdale test screening for Ocean's Eleven last week, and I must say that either the kind Dr. had some flat soda during the flick or he just doesn't quite get the thing.
Yes, it was evident that this was a very early cut of the film, and the pacing did need some work, but this has the makings of greatness, and even as it was, it buried anything I have seen so far this year. Soderbergh, who was present at the screening along with Jerry Weintraub and a host of other black-clad producer types, has a very unique sense of style and man, he brings it in full force on this one.
Clooney and Pitt, as the Dr. says, have perfect chemistry across the whole film, Matt Damon does a great job as the new guy of the crew (and I think is better than what Wahlberg would have been), Julia Roberts, with limited screen time and a very late introduction, does wonderfully with her scenes, and what a unique pleasure to see Carl Reiner playing an end of his rope con man. Even Scott Caan and Corey Affleck are great as the constantly fighting Mormon Molloy Brothers. The cast could not have been better.
The script is smart, with good lines (the ending is a bit surprisingly smarmy...hopefully that will change), and it smartly takes time to poke fun at the characters and the logic of heist. It treats everybody with intelligence, and while there are some slight reality gaps, I never lost faith in the drive of the story. This fiction, right???
The only problems I noted on my survey card could be easily fixed in editing...no reshoots should be needed here. And my faith in Soderbergh's editing abilities (is there a leaner flick than The Limey?) allow me to know that this already very good movie will be the best time in a movie house all year...no question. But, keep in mind that this is no big statement piece or Oscar heavy nor is it intended to be...it's a very good, fun ensemble work that is smart and very, very cool. I can't wait to see it again.
Luc's Pop.
