Review of "Ocean's Eleven (Widescreen Edition)" by

Director Steven Soderbergh takes a collection of superstars, mixes them with the classic Rat Pack flick of the 1960's and turns it into a slow-paced stream of flashing lights, explosions, and absolutely no style or substance. The plot centers around an accomplished theif, Danny Ocean (George Cloony), recently released on parole after a 5-year vacation at the old Gray Bar Hotel. He apparently put the time to good use in devising a scheme to knock over three Las Vegas casinos, owned by a ruthless thug-type played by Andy Garcia.

It turns out that besides the multi-million dollar payoff, Ocean's true motivation is the fact that Garcia is having an affair with his ex-wife, played rather lifelessly by Julia Roberts. We get a lot of fluff about how the casino is so well protected and how ruthless Garcia's character is, but scant detail on how the gang intends to get the job done - you know, the stuff that keeps you on the edge of your seat in anticipation? Instead we get a lot of pictures of Garcia strolling through his casino, and other wasted film time. This movie was so badly executed that Soderbergh even manages to make Julia Roberts seem emotionless and Carl Reiner devoid of character.

The "extras" on the DVD do little to salvage the time you'll have wasted watching this. Do yourself a favor and rent or buy the original film with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Peter Lawford, Sammy Davis jr., and Ceasar Romero.