 It may be as disposable as a stick of chewing gum, but critics suggest that Ocean's Twelve is also about as enjoyable. Lou Lumenick in the New York Post employs a different metaphor: ‘This slickly entertaining sequel is all about savoring eye candy,’ he writes. Steven Rea in the Philadelphia Inquirer compares it with a vacation: ‘As soon as it's over, and you find yourself back in the harsh light of the workaday world, you'll be hard-pressed to remember what happened. Except that you'll remember enjoying yourself -- immensely.’ Indeed, Wesley Morris writes in the Boston Globe, ‘It's so well made and undeniably entertaining it should leap from tall buildings and wear a big 'S' on its chest.’ Most of the critics do complain perfunctorily about the script -- or the lack thereof. ‘A fizzy no-brainer’ is the way Eleanor Ringel Gillespie describes it in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Michael Wilmington in the Chicago Tribune suggests that ’the improbable plotting is part of the charm.’ And clearly the critics are charmed by the camaraderie of the multi-million-dollar cast, which includes George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Andy Garcia and a host of big names in cameo roles. They also bestow much praise on director-cinematographer Steven Soderbergh, alternating his art-film projects with a commercial one the way Frank Sinatra, who starred in the original Ocean's Eleven, did with dramas and comedy/musicals. ‘When Ocean's Twelve works, it's a blast,’ writes Manohla Dargis in the New York Times. But Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times is not amused. ‘A lethargic would-be entertainment as well as a dispiriting vanity project, it is such a misfire that it makes it hard to remember what was special about its predecessor,’ he writes. |
