MOVE REVIEW - OCEAN'S 8

If you, like most folks, enjoyed OCEAN'S 11, detested OCEAN'S 12 and thought the franchise redeemed itself (somewhat) with OCEAN'S 13, then you will find the latest installment in this "franchise" - the all female version, OCEAN'S 8 - a very agreeable and enjoyable romp. Starring Sandra Bullock as Debbie Ocean, the sister of the George Clooney character, Danny Ocean, from the previous films - Ocean's 8 follows her calculated plot to rob some jewels off of a ditzy actress during the annual, high brow, Met Gala. Like the previous films in this franchise, this film is filled with star performers blending together (kind of like THE AVENGERS). Let's start with Cate Blanchett as the right-hand "man" of Bullock's character. This character is a good microcosm of what is right - and what is wrong - with this sort of "let's throw a ton of stars onto the screen". Her mysterious character, Lou, and Blanchett's portrayal of this character, are fascinating and interesting to watch. I could have had a full movie just about Lou. But, of course, I don't get a full movie of Lou, I have to be satisfied with just snippets of Lou - but those snippets are very interesting, indeed. Same goes for Helena Bonham Carter's dress designer, Rose Weil. This is another interesting, quirky character (does Bonham Carter play anything but?) and, surprisingly, we spend much of the first 1/3 of the film following her, but then she disappears for long periods of time (so the film can give screen time to the others). And...each of the "others" - Mindy Kalling, Rihanna, Sarah Paulson and Awkwafina (not a misprint) - all have their "moments", but that's about it. They are there to fill things out in this film - and they all play their roles in this film with professionalism - but none of them are up to the level of Blanchett or Bonham Carter. Surprisingly, the two performers that do shine through in this film is Anne Hathaway as the "ditzy" actress that is the dupe of the plot and (really surprisingly) James Cordon as an Insurance Investigator who comes along about 3/4 of the way into this film. At some point, someone calls him "Columbo" and that is an apt description. Someone get this actor a weekly Detective show for this character! Both Hathaway and Cordon add a spark of brightness - and fun - to this film and when they are not on the screen that absence of "fun" is noticeable. I place the blame for the lack of "fun" in this film on the direction of Gary Ross (HUNGER GAMES) and, especially, in the portrayal of Debbie Ocean by Ms. Bullock. Her character is driven, calculating and S-E-R-I-O-U-S! She is on a mission and doesn't stray from it. The film references the George Clooney character multiple times. Unfortunately, all this does is remind us how different from DANNY Ocean that DEBBIE Ocean is. Where he is charming, she is calculating. Where he is fun, she is serious. Where he comes off as "playing a game", she comes off as "doing a job". I think Ross and Bullock missed the point of these films - have fun. Which is what Hathaway and Cordon do - they have fun. You can then juxtapose that fun with the quirky, interesting characters of Blanchett and Bonham Carter - and you have 3/4 of a good film. Letter Grade: B 7 (out of 10) stars and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)