Yo Eleven

It's not like I liked Soderbrgh's Ocean's Eleven - but I respect it, you know? I'm not a great fan of the original Rat Pack version, either. But they share the same loose, relaxed, who-gives-a-damn charm.

Danny Ocean is George Clooney this time. He has just gotten out of prison on parole, which he immediately breaks to pull the biggest job of his career - to clean out 3 Las Vegas casinos. He gets in touch with Brad Pitt and they start to put together the team.

The team will be made up of "a Boesky, a Jim Brown, a Miss Daisy, two Jethros and a Leon Spinks, not to mention the biggest Ella Fitzgerald ever". Actually, that's a synopsis of the plot, not the team. Anyway, it sounds cool. It takes a special kind of cast to reel that line out and hook you.

The best team members, in my opinion, are Elliott Gould as the old macher who bankrolls the heist, and Carl Reiner, the alte kaker who will run the con that gets the man into the vault. Lovely to see these old hams - er old hands - interacting with the youngsters.

So, if you enjoy a mindless plot, and hearing Frank, Dino and Sammy bullshit around, watch the 1960 Ocean's Eleven. If you want the same thing with Clooney, Pitt and say, Bernie Mac, get this one.

And of course, I'll get around to Ocean's Twelve someday. But I've seen Ocean's Thirteen, and that's about enough.

In conclusion, good soundtrack, but they didn't play the Sammy Davis theme song.