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"WEEKEND STAR" FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2001 *9 New Ocean's Eleven remake is just plain good fun SCREENING ROOM By John Foote OCEAN'S ELEVEN Directed by Steven Soderbergh Now in theatres (***) The biggest question | have surround- ing this film is why? Why would the gifted director of Traffic ~ (2000), Erin Brockovich (2000), and The Limey (1999) choose to follow his Oscar win with this star-studded, unnecessary remake of a forgettable 60s flick featuring Frank Sinatra? Granted the chance to work with such actors as the under-valued and terrific George Clooney, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Andy Garcia and Julia Roberts must have 'been tempting, but Soderbergh has never been one for Hollywood trappings, which is why he is such a fine director. Quite content and happy working in the independent scene, he is recognized among the elite of America's filmmakers and has grown to rival Scorsese and Spielberg as the top directors of today. Last year he became the first director in over 40 years to earn two Oscar nomina- tions for best director in the same year and the first since Francis Ford Coppola to have two films he directed competing ~ for the best picture prize. George Clooney talked him into doing the film and that has been well publi- cized. The pair did some of their best screen work in the 'stylish noir Out of Sight (1998) which also should have been an Oscar contender but was ignored. I am at a loss to explain why Soderbergh would move so off the track he has beaten out as an indy director to make this Hollywood product that is so blatantly a Hollywood product. The bril- liant young director who exploded onto the film front with Sex, Lies and Videotape (1989) has maintained his independence from the movie business for so long, I thought he would never make a film for a studio. Possessing the ability to bring strong performances out of actors and actresses, he is much admired in the business by artists for this trait. Terence Stamp gave a ferocious, seething performance in The Limey, by far the best work of the British actor's career for which he credits Soderbergh. Last year Julia Roberts did her best screen work under the subtle direction of Soderbergh in Erin Brockovich and the superb ensemble cast of Traffic (2000) also delivered excel- lent performances that won one of them, Benicio del Toro, an Academy Award for best supporting actor. Ocean's Eleven is a caper film, the third such major film this year following The Score, which featured Robert de Niro, and Heist, which starred Gene Hackman. Easily the best of the three, Ocean's Eleven is a slick entertainment machine that follows a paint-by-numbers design in its quest to entertain and noth- ing more. The film is enormously watchable and sometimes great fun, but hardly the type of art we expect from this gifted young director. Clooney is Danny Ocean, a slick thief who cobbles together an odd crew of crooks who will help him rob three major casinos in Las Vegas all in one night, net- ting the men in excess of $150 million. It is a massive job that will require the best in the business, all close associates of Clooney. The problem is they are steal- ing from a dangerous man, nicely played by Andy Garcia, who owns the casinos and will simply erase anyone who crosses him. Complicating matters is 'the fact Clooney's ex-wife, portrayed by Julia Roberts, is the bad guy's new squeeze. Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, Elliot Gould, Carl Reiner, and Don Cheadle make up the major players for Clooney, all obvi- ously having great fun in their roles, but not really creating characters. They are doing what is known in acting circles as portraying an "attitude". That occurs when the actor fails to slip under the skin _ of the character they are portraying and gives a superficial piece of acting that is all posture and line delivery. Michael Douglas was guilty of this in 1987 and won an Academy Award for his performance in Wall Street, so on rare occasions it does pass as acting. Watching these normally fine actors have fun in this stylish film is part of the enjoyment of the work, though I kept wishing for more. I am a firm believer that George Clooney is a major actor waiting to hap- pen. The guy has strong movie star appeal and has displayed enormous tal- ent in films such as Out of Sight (1998) and last year's Coen Brothers comedy O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000). Like John Travolta, Clooney possesses the ability to exude cool on the big screen. Somewhere in a Hollywood dictionary, under the word "cool", it reads Travolta in Get Shorty and Clooney in Out of Sight. In addition to that, he has the ability to thrill men and send ladies into a , swoon. When will Clooney have a break- out role that will land him in the Oscar cir- cle as a nominee for best actor? His work in O Brother Where Art Thou? was very good and did win him the Golden Globe for comedy actor, but Oscar turned a blind eye. Ocean's Eleven is not the type of film that will earn Oscar nominations for any- one, but let's be fair, that is not why it was made. For two hours it provides a pleasant diversion from the world outside, which is precisely why they made it. The actors all do what they were hired to do, nothing more, because the script does not allow for any more. Pitt plays down his golden boy good looks and Roberts is merely window dressing in the film, causing audiences to forget that she is now an Academy Award winner. Elliot Gould has some nice moments as does the great comic Carl Reiner, but the film very much belongs to Clooney. 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