***1/2 – This 2001 remake of a classic 60s heist film wasn’t one I was really looking all that forward to seeing due to its Rat Pack pedigree and the advertisements that originally came out for it that made it seem way too wacky and zany. Luckily, the wackiness turned out to be something that was not prominent and although it has origins in the 60s, it had a surprisingly modern feel to it. One of the best aspects of this movie is the way that it completely eschews set-up and back story by leaping into the actual planning and execution of the heist within about 2 minutes of the opening credits. I find the tendency for movies of many genres to waste up to and including an hour or more of screen time with meandering tales of character backgrounds and motivations before getting into the meat of the film to be a rather unpleasant trend, so the fact that this movie completely skips all that is a definite plus. That’s not to say it was all good. Most of the acting was excellent, especially Pitt, Clooney, the two arguing Mormons (Casey Affleck and Scott Caan) and Carl Reiner, but I felt both Don Cheadle and Julia Roberts were subpar and miscast, especially Cheadle who couldn’t really pull off a British accent. With all the great black British actors out there, why cast an American in that role? I guess that’s a minor quibble for an otherwise enjoyable film.
No comments:
Post a Comment