Ocean's 8

I'm a fan of the original Oceans 11 (the one with Sammy Davis, Jr., Dean Martin, and Sinatra) and the reboot with Clooney and Brad Pitt.  Now, I'm a fan of Ocean's 8... well, I'm more a fan of the concept of Ocean's 8.  Don't get me wrong, it was pretty good, but it was also entirely too predictable.  Aside from that, it was a good introduction to this Ocean's crew of thieves and it was exceptionally entertaining.  Sometimes (with how many movies I've watched, critiqued, analyzed, and fanboy'd) I get bogged down and miss the forest for the trees... I ran the risk of doing that here, but fortunately the woman I was with kept that from happening - she was more exuberant about the little things than I was - wait... what I mean to say is that she was more excited about things like the casting and discovering what I thought were thinly veiled plot twists than I was.  Ocean's 8 is the first real date movie I've enjoyed in some years.  

SIDE NOTE: In other news... Rihanna is arguably the sexiest woman breathing right now (with only Lupita Nyongo #WakandaForever challenging her)… no disrespect to my lovely date (but I can't really respect her opinion since she went out with me and is in love with Alex Rodriguez...?).

VITALS 

Gary Ross (Free State of Jones, The Hunger Games) - Director (Free State of Jones, The Hunger Games)

Gary Ross (Free State of Jones, The Hunger Games) & Olivia Milch (Dude) - Writers

Sandra Bullock - Debbie Ocean

Cate Blanchett - Lou

Anne Hathaway - Daphne Kluger

Rihanna - Nine Ball

Helena Bonham Carter - Rose Weil

Sarah Paulson - Tammy

Awkwafina - Constance

Mindy Kaling - Amita

James Corden - Insurance Investigator

Richard Armitage - Claude Becker 

IF YOU MUST KNOW

(SPOILER ALERT)

Debbie Ocean is out of prison on parole (see Ocean's 11) and she’s been plotting her next job every minute she spent in the hole.  That’s the first connection we have with Danny Ocean (Ocean’s 11).  We quickly find out after she gets out that Danny’s no dead - maybe.  Danny’s little sister and she has mapped out everything down to the kind of crew that she needs pull off a job that will bring in so much money, they should never need to pull another job again… at least, not until Ocean’s 9 – and I hope they find a way to fit in Julia Roberts. 

First, Debbie seeks out her old ace, Lou (Blanchett) who is basically the Rusty (Brad Pitt) of the crew.  Lou is the one who compiles the talent and helps Debbie figure out the logistics of her high-handed plan to rob the MET Gala for the great gobs of jewels that the celebs and celebutants.  Then, they go out and solicit the talents of old friends (some semi-retired, some otherwise occupied) and new friends - all of whom are enticed by the idea of either working with Ocean and Lou or by the value of the loot to be divvied up at the end of the heist.

Long story, slightly shortened - everybody they look for is in.  They have a hick-up here and there (most of which were so minor as to be unworthy of mention) and Ocean (just like her brother, Danny) has a side mission attached to this jewelry heist; unlike Danny, she is working an angle to screw over the guy who snitched on her and broke her heart, Claude Becker (Armitage).

The heist happens, shenanigans ensue, and Debbie Ocean's 8 walk away with plenty of booty to spare.  See what I did there?

Aside from the cute-siness of the tagline "Every con has its pros," the biggest problem I have with this movie is that there is only one twist that is not predictable as hell and even that twist is relatively meaningless.  I'm not a complete bastard, so I won't tell you what it is, but let's just say the payoff for this particular twist doesn't really make much of a difference to me.  Maybe it's a function of the fact that this is officially the fifth Ocean's '#' movie and after a certain point, you kinda get it.  Ocean plans caper, Ocean gets crew together, crew makes Ocean's idea into a plan, crew's plan works despite Ocean, Ocean's crew walks away scot-free with a crap load of loot.  

Now, like I said, I was fortunate to go see this with a particularly savvy woman (besides, I am too old to be hanging out with dummies) who summed it up pretty well… Ocean's 8 is fun and it has “all my favorite people in it” – well, it may have all of her favorite people, but definitely multiple of my favorite female actors are in it.  Helena Bonham Carter, Cate Blanchett, Sandra Bullock, Anne Hathaway, and the magnificent Sarah Paulson.  I was missing Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, Nicole Beharie, Zoe Saldana, and the incomparable Lupita in this flick - if they added 2 or more of these women, I would have been there twice on opening night day.

Not exactly groundbreaking or as slick and twisty as any of the Clooney Ocean's movies, but it was solid.  It was a great date movie, light and entertaining with a talented cast. I definitely detected a few Thomas Crown Affair-type nods (either one McQueen or Brosnan).  Good enough to watch again - when it comes out on one of those streaming services.  And, in my humble nerdy opinion... it was at least as good as Avengers: Infinity War (Pt. I) - snap that sh#, Thanos!

PS: Did I mention she's in this too (even though they tried to make her not sexy)...

IMTHATDUDE gives Ocean's 8: 4 

RATING SYSTEM:
5 = You should be about halfway to the theatre by now… Well… GET! 
4 = Definitely worth the bread. Niiice.
3 = I won’t cuss anybody out and demand my paper back.
2 = Somewhere SOUTH of under-whelmed./I know it has a pulse, but…
1 = Not a good look. They played me AND I played myself.