Review of Ocean's Eight (2018) by Mark S — 14 Jun 2018

My first mistake was revisiting the ineffably great original trilogy so recently. Because of that, Ocean's 8 comes across like a frozen food dinner version of a lovingly-created, homecooked meal. Sure, all the ingredients are there, but any needed salt (cool jazz score, sporadic cleverness, dry humor, hip performances by a stacked cast) seems to be there more for preservation than for flavor. Where the original films effortlessly float on their Rat-Pack-esque coolness, Eight forces it, dropping the hilarious subtlety and riding on lame laziness.

Sandra Bullock plays Debbie Ocean, sister to master criminal Danny Ocean. After getting out of prison, she calls together a hodge-podge group of differently-skilled women to aid her in stealing a priceless necklace that adorns the neck of an A-list Met-Gala-attendee. As expected, we spend the majority of the film meeting the crew. Other than some colorful performances from the cast, it's all largely unremarkable until the heist itself, which is a welcome bit of throwback-fun. Unfortunately, unlike the best of the series before it (11 and 13), there's little-to-no emotional heft to their plight. I spent most the 2 hours waiting for another cameo, and asking, "Why exactly are we rooting for these people again?".

Honestly, the conception of an "all-girl Ocean's movie" is just such a lackluster and unnecessary jumping-off point for a movie. Not that women can't or shouldn't star in an action-comedy-heist, or that the movie doesn't address the obvious question ("Why only women?") to decent affect. I just wish Hollywood would trust more women filmmakers to start their own unique projects instead of simply forcing them into mediocre, half-baked remakes / spin-offs of proven moneymakers.