Ocean's Eleven stars George Clooney as Daniel Ocean, a con artist who, fresh out on parole, seeks to pull off the ultimate heist-the theft of $150 million from the highly-secured vault of the Bellagio casino on the weekend of a fight. It is the vault that contains the funds of not only the Bellagio but also the MGM Grand and the Mirage. To execute this heist, Ocean seeks the help of his friend, and fellow professional con man, Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt). The two work to put together a crew of men including a Linus Caldwell, young pickpocket with little experience (Matt Damon); Reuben Tishkoff, the man to fund the operation (Elliot Gould); Turk and Virgil Malloy, two brothers who can help the crew make a getaway and act as quick-change artists (Casey Affleck and Scott Caan); Saul Bloom, a retired con man to pose as a high roller (Carl Reiner); Basher Tarr, an expert in demolitions (Don Cheadle); Frank Cattan, an inside man who can work the tables and find out valuable information (Bernie Mac); Livingston Dell, a techno-geek and surveillance expert (Edward Jemison); and Yen, a Chinese acrobat who serves as the crew's Grease Man (Shaobo Qin). The men seem to be up against insurmountable odds-the Mission Impossible of heists. However, the plot is further complicated when Rusty realizes that Ocean's ex-wife Tess (Julia Roberts) is working at the Bellagio and dating Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia), the ruthless tycoon who owns the three casinos. Upon discovering Tess's presence, Rusty sees that the heist is not about the money for Ocean, but about humiliating Benedict and winning Tess back and Ocean admits as much.
The set up of the film is intriguing and it is fascinating to watch how the heist plays out. Two-thirds of the film centers on the heist. The action is fast-paced and there are enough interesting twists and turns to keep things exciting. Screenwriter Ted Griffin updates the 1960 film for the high tech age and manages to conceive a relatively plausible scenario for how a group of men could get away with $150 million from one of the most secured facilities in the United States (as plausible as that could be). The screenplay also has several genuinely funny moments. The banter between the characters the naivete of Matt Damon's character is very amusing and the scene near the beginning of the film in which Brad Pitt's character, Rusty, is teaching young WB and Fox stars Joshua Jackson, Holly Marie Combs, Barry Watson, and Topher Grace how to play poker is classic.
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