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OCEAN'S 12 Tripping up on its own smugness, "Ocean's 12" isn't as fine-tuned, amusing or satisfying as the original. Touting the film as an event that literally realigns the stars (the Hollywood kind, that is) - in the press notes it's duly noted that getting the schedule of the Brad Pitts, Julia Roberts and George Clooneys of the world to gel is "impossible - "Ocean's 12" doesn't offer much more than its bankable stars. Picking up three years after the first film left off, "Ocean's 12" begins with a snapshot into the not-so-thrilling lives of the titular gang. Scattered about the country, Rusty (Brad Pitt) has become an unsuccessful hotel manager in Las Vegas. Virgil (Casey Affleck) has become a fiancé in Provo. And Danny (George Clooney) has become a shifty suburbanite with his now-wife Tess (Julia Roberts) in Hartford. When Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia) locates the whereabouts of the men who robbed him, he sends a bleak directive their way: return the amount they stole, with interest, in two weeks or die. With that in mind, the crew reassembles and head to Europe, first Amsterdam and then Rome, because they're too well known to pull off any heists on American soil. Once abroad, they start planning a series of thefts to get enough money together to repay their hefty debtŠonly to find they're being cased by another thief. Given a challenge by the French mastermind known only as the Night Fox, Ocean's 12 has to pull of their most elaborate crime yet, to save their proverbial skins. A comedy of errors where everything seemingly goes wrong for the gang - from losing luggage holding one of their crewmembers to getting nabbed by the police - "Ocean's 12" really falls apart in its third act. Unlike the first film, where all of the characters' elaborate roles in the heist are intricately and slowly revealed, many of the leads don't have much to do here. This time around there's seemingly no difference between the weapons expert and the pickpocket, since no one has a very specific role in the big heist. Although there is a nice cat-and-mouse aspect of the film as Rusty is pursued by his ex-girlfriend, a European detective who specializes in catching flashy, non-violent thieves (Catherine Zeta Jones), even this subplot is ultimately driven into the ground. At the risk of having to issue a spoiler alert (in other words, don't read on if you don't want certain plot twists revealed), it needs to be said that "Ocean's 12" pulls one of the strangest, and most idiotic, cinematic punches in recent memory. Playing out a botched heist scheme, Soderbergh has Julia Roberts' character pretend to be the real Julia Roberts in order to get celebrity access to the coveted Faberge egg the gang is trying to steal. While it is established that Tess bears a striking resemblance to Julia, it's not established why she's the exception to the rule. Why doesn't George Clooney's character look like George Clooney? Or Matt Damon's for that matter?
Breaking the basic rules of storytelling to garner a few yuks - Isn't it funny
to see Julia Roberts' character stuff her dress with a pillow and talk about how
she loves Julia Roberts? - Soderbergh takes the film ridiculously off course.
What might have, in another film (say Soderbergh's narcissistically hollow take
on Hollywood, "Full Frontal"), been a postmodern take the divide between an
actor and a celebrity is turned into a circus trick that panders to the lowest
common denominator.
SPANGLISH
Set up as a culture clash meets fish out of water tale, "Spanglish" is narrated by Cristina, the daughter of a hard-working and saintly single mom who emigrated to the U.S. from Mexico. In her essay on her Princeton University application, Cristina relates the story of her mother, which roles out to become the movie itself. When Flor (Paz Vega) arrives in Los Angeles with her young daughter, speaking no English, her cousin takes her on a job interview for a maid. Immediately entranced by Flor's effortless beauty, Deborah Clasky (Tea Leoni), hires the immigrant on the spot, despite the language. As Flor spends more time with the Claskies, she begins to appreciate the nuances, inner struggles and shortcomings of each member of the family. There is John (Adam Sandler), the too-nice-for-his-own good dad and husband, who, despite his successful career as a chef and restaurateur, seems lost between his wife and children. His wife, Deborah (Leoni), a former businesswoman who, now at home, is unglued by her lack of maternal instincts and her own fragile self-image. Her sweet but chubby daughter, Bernice, who is constantly confronted by her mother's obsessive and shallow attitudes towards beauty. And, finally, Deborah's sweet but usually intoxicated mother, Evelyn (Leachman), a former jazz singer who's always on hand with a kind word or wonderfully inappropriate story. Although "Spanglish" touches on complex issues about racism and classism in America, the film is ultimately less about politics and more about people. Charting Flor's reluctant journey to learn English, and paralleling it with her equally reluctant passage into the Clasky family's inner circle, "Spanglish" uses a wonderful device to get at some of its deeper themes: how we function as members of a family and how, as parents, we lay the groundwork for the adults our children will become.
As
good a motif as the language barrier broken is, "Spanglish" is most memorable
for its less-than-flattering portrayal of a mother in crisis. Tea Leoni's
despicably flawed but still sympathetic mom is one of the better characters to
appear on screen in recent memory.
Betrayed by her own insecurities, Leoni's Deborah is the unexpected treat in
"Spanglish." A stark contrast to the martyr mom she played so well in
"Family Man," hopefully her turn here won't be ignored when Oscar time rolls
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