Ocean’s Thirteen

The third installment in this heist franchise is almost a return to form after the meandering, supremely lame Ocean’s Twelve. Clooney, Pitt and the rest are back in Vegas, where a slimy casino entrepreneur (Al Pacino) has screwed over their buddy Reuben (Elliot Gould). The crew gets back together in a plot to make the Pacino character lose his shirt, and that plot is an almost always interesting one. Matt Damon gets to provide most of the comic relief, and he does a good job of it, especially in his wooing of Pacino’s devout assistant (Ellen Barkin). Pitt’s character doesn’t seem as involved this time out, but Clooney shines as usual. This is the rumored last installment in the series, but after its big box-office weekend, Ocean’s Fourteen seems like a realistic possibility. To sum up, this film is not as good as the first but way better than the second.