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9/15/2022

Ocean's Eleven (2001) - Soderbergh brings down the house

♥♥

 

When you've got a cast like this, you should flaunt it. So does this poster for Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's Eleven

Released from prison, grand larcenist Danny Ocean pulls together a 10-man team for an ambitious new heist, aiming at three major Las Vegas casinos in the same operation.

 

Ocean's Eleven is written by Ted Griffin (Ravenous (1999)) and directed and photographed by Georgian master filmmaker Steven Soderbergh (Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989)), whose 11th feature it is. It is a remake of Ocean's Eleven (1960) by Lewis Milestone, which featured the Rat Pack, Angie Dickinson and more.

Soderbergh has spun a piece of top entertainment here and resurrected a genre (the heist movie) in a way that couldn't possibly be any more stylish. The attractive cast all deliver, and especially Elliott Gould (E/R (1984-85)) and Carl Reiner (The Art of Love (1965)) are hilarious. 

Ocean's Eleven reeks of Vegas and show business in the best possible way. There's small twists and neat features in the long built-up to the big score. Ocean's Eleven is a highly successful operation.

 

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Watch a trailer for the film here


Cost: 85 mil. $

Box office: 450.7 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 5.30 times its cost)

[Ocean's Eleven premiered 5 December (California) and runs 116 minutes. A remake by David Permut was close to happening in 1987. George Clooney (Three Kings (1999)) was paid 20 mil. $ for his performance; Brad Pitt (Sleepers (1996)) 10 mil. $ - against a back-end deal that ended up netting him 30 mil. $ total; Julia Roberts (Mary Reilly (1996)) got 10 mil. $ and Matt Damon (Rounders (1998)) 5 mil. $ - that's 45 mil. $ total up front for the film's 4 main stars, more than half the film's budget. Shooting took place from February - June 2001 in Chicago, Illinois, New Jersey, Las Vegas, Nevada, Florida and in California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #1 to a 38.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for another 5 weekends (#2-#2-#2-#3-#4), grossing 183.4 mil. $ (40.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 51.9 mil. $ (11.5 %) and the UK with 35.7 mil. $ (7.9 %). The film was nominated for a César award and won a National Board of Review award, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch under this one. The success was followed by two sequels with returning stars and director Soderbergh; Ocean's Twelve (2004) and Ocean's Thirteen (2007), - as well as a female-lead reboot by Gary Ross; Ocean's 8 (2018). Soderbergh returned first with Full Frontal (2002). Clooney first returned in Welcome to Collinwood (2002); Pitt in Jackass (2002, TV-series) and theatrically in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002); Roberts in Grand Champion (2002); and Damon with a voice performance in The Majestic (2001) and physically in Gerry (2002). Ocean's Eleven is certified fresh at 83 % with a 7/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]


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