2001, 2 hrs, Rated PG-13 for some language and sexual content.�Dir: Steven Soderbergh. Cast: George Clooney (Danny Ocean), Brad Pitt (Dusty Ryan), Matt Damon (Linus Caldwell), Casey Affleck (Virgil Malloy), Scott Caan (Turk Malloy), Elliott Gould (Ruben Tischkoff), Bernie Mac (Frank C./Ramon), Carl Reiner (Saul Bloom), Don Cheadle (Roscoe Means), Shaobo Qin (Yen), Edward Jemison, Andy Garcia (Harry Benedict), Julia Roberts (Tess Ocean).

Since I'm in Miami for the week, the last thing I'm going to do is spend a long time on a review of a movie, so I just tell you what I think about Ocean's 11 in the same style of the film: Simple and straightforward and seemingly flies by.

11 is just a whole lot of fun packed into two hours. The cast is beyond recognizable, and each given their own scene or two to show off their skills, and the film rolls along amid plenty of hip dialogue.

I've never seen the original with Frank Sanatra and the Rat Pack, so I have no frame of comparison. But director Steven Soderbergh probably did, so I'll give him credit for using the formula to his advantage, with creative shotmaking and easy to tell storylines, all the while keeping the ultimate heist a little bit of a secret with surprises for the end.

Clooney has a good time in the title role as Danny Ocean, and provides a stable backbone for everything that goes on around him. While America's Sweetheart, Julia, is given virtually nothing to do, I'm sure she just felt like being part of a movie with such a Hollywood A-list cast of youth and old alike. Andy Garcia deserves a lot of credit as well, as Julia's current boyfriend and casino owner.

So this holiday season, if you're looking for something worthwhile for an hour or two, a stop at Ocean's 11 won't be like stealing your hard-earned money.

The verdict:

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