Summary
A terrific cast run the jewels through a familiar formula, but it’s all in the name of a crazy caper. Roll on the Ocean’s Cinematic Universe!
Cinematic franchises are a slick heist pulled on cinema audiences around the world. We’ll buy into any form of remake or sequel if it promises a hint of a wider universe. OCEAN’S 8 does a fair bit of teasing, but like the best con jobs, the illusion of originality is all smoke and mirrors. It still doesn’t stop it from being a bit of fun.
Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock) is released from prison after a 5 year stretch for a job she was also conned into. For her entire incarceration, she has been plotting to swindle the Met Gala in a scheme that would make her late brother Danny proud. All she needs is a gang, which she finds in the form of Cate Blanchett, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Awkwafina, Rihanna, and Helena Bonham Carter.
Formulas work. For that reason, it’s prudent not to shake them up too much. A change of cast and locale aside, the film wastes no time in getting the various players down to work. As with pretty much any heist film in history, 80% of director Gary Ross and co-writer Olivia Milch’s script is spent in exposition and cool planning montages. When something goes spectacularly right, we are simply told that it is the result of Ocean’s impeccable planning. When something goes wrong, well…nothing actually goes wrong. Ever. It’s a series of things happening that’s light on connective tissue.
This is probably because the Ocean’s films have never been about the heists so much as the interactions between an eclectic group of amazing actors and personalities. Bullock’s natural lead works opposite Blanchett because the latter – all motorcycle jackets and bootleg booze – is playing against type (if Blanchett can be said to have a ‘type’). Similarly, it’s terrific to see Paulson in such a key fence role. Kaling is completely in tune with her own public persona and channels it seamlessly into a jewelry maker, and Carter just does her weird thing she does so well. Anne Hathaway is clearly having a ball as a vain starlet, even if the appearance of Anna Wintour was a missed opportunity for a Devil Wears Prada reference.
Rihanna doesn’t have to do much beyond type furiously and throw shade, but at least her Twitter followers will be right at home. Awkwafina is the real gem of the casting here, her slacker skater vibe stealing scenes and making us look forward to Crazy Rich Asians later this year. As Bullock’s Ocean notes, “A him gets noticed. A her gets ignored. For once we want to be ignored.” Which is the casting philosophy as well. For once, it’s the men who are given perfunctory backseat status. Even so, the baffling late addition of James Corden fails to land any impact beyond the credits.
There’s a ton of cameos, both from the previous films and from the New York fashion industry. Zac Posen, Katie Holmes, and Heidi Klum in quick succession almost make this feel like a Project Runway crossover. So while it’s a film that’s almost complete free of drama or conflict, save for a brief subplot involving Richard Armitage as Ocean’s ex, it’s one that has a blast while never straying too far from its roots. As Ocean says in the final moments, raising a martini glass to her absent brother, “You would have loved it.”
