Saturday, June 09, 2007

Oceans 13 (movie review)

Some friends invited me to this on the basis of free tickets they'd received, handed out by Regal in compensation for some glitch, Jimmy said minor, in some HD showing of Pirates... on a big screen in the multiplex across from Lloyd Center, the one with the parking lot from which Robin Egg was stolen, our Subaru wagon pre Razz, along with her bicycle rack. Miraculously for this Friday night, Jimmy found a space right at the entrance.

In the mood for mindless fun, I gave this movie big benefits of the doubt. None of that could actually work in real life, starting with floor plans, which is why they had too many to show. Everything would be totally broken, starting with the lame explanations for how a tunneling machine could be run by one man. The audience gets taken. The casino wins again.

But the point isn't the claptrap, the bells and whistles, but the clear friendships and utter competence of the guys in the foreground, a rat pack for our age. This is a shared vehicle well shared, by a sensitive bunch of Oprah lovers, what can we say. Not quite as high level as Shark Tale perhaps, but still a crime family drama, and those tend to be good once we're above certain cut offs.

Greco was the furthest off the mark. So what he (a thinking computer) detects short term deviations from average outcomes on the tables, and so what some big winner acts not innocently surprised, but like he expected it. So whatcha gonna do, big guy? Deviations happen.