Ocean's Eight

Fresh out of prison, Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock), cons her way into a luxury hotel room with recently purloined beauty products.  After pampering herself, she meets her former partner, Lou (Cate Blanchett) and outlines a jewelry heist.  Debbie has spent her five years in prison planning the heist and is sure it will work.  They look for a team.  They recruit a down-on-her luck fashion designer: Rose Weil (Helena Bonham Carter).  They need a jeweler: Amita (Mindy Kaling).  They need a computer hacker: Nine Ball (Rihanna).  Next is the pickpocket: Constance (Awkwafina).  Finally, they need a fence: Tammy (Sarah Paulson).  Yes, that is only 7 because 8 joins as a twist after the heist.  Of course, there is also the mark, noted actress Daphne Kluger (Anne Hathaway).  There are some appearances by members of Ocean's 11, such as Reuben (Elliot Gould), so this isn't an all-female reboot (e.g. Ghostbusters) but a continuation with a different member of the Ocean family.  Debbie is Danny's (George Clooney) sister.  Danny is purportedly dead though Debbie has some doubts when she visits his grave at a mausoleum.

 

As heist movies go, it is all right.  It felt a little too smooth.  The inevitable bumps were resolved entirely too easily.  I was particularly annoyed when Nine Ball's younger sister - who looked like she was 12 - solved the magnetic lock problem.  It was too easy and the stakes were too small.  The characters were never in any trouble.  Even after the heist, the insurance investigator (James Corden) knows that Debbie masterminded the whole thing but happily takes down the patsy she has framed.  Of course, the patsy is the one who sent her to jail so he deserves it.  Ha ha.  There is another twist that completely undercuts the risks they took to smuggle the jewels out of the gala.

Johnny Hooker: He threatened to kill me.
Henry Gondorff: Hell, kid, they don't do that, you know you're not getting to 'em.

That's an exchanged from The Sting (1973) that has always stuck with me.  By that standard, Ocean's Eight never got to them.  It never got to me either.  It is just okay.