Movie: Ocean's Eight

This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.

Sisters in Crime

Plot Overview

A chastened Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock) sits at an empty table being inter­viewed by a Parole Board Officer (Griffin Dunne): “Good after­noon, Miss Ocean. As you know parole is a privilege.” She responds that her goals are to get a job, … live simply, … make friends, … go on a walk, … pay her bills. Great! She is admonished not to associate with criminals, and having shown proper contrition she is released.

She starts with the walk, hustling right and left as she goes. She gathers around her­self five fellow hustlers of various flavors and one has-been business woman, a fashion designer Rose Weil (Helena Bonham Carter). With a stern Judge Judy on the TV in the back­ground, they plan to lift a $150 million necklace, the Toussaint, from the Met Gala the first Monday in May.

Their scheme is to have Rose dress up fashion model Daphne Kluger (Anne Hathaway) with the Toussaint for the (Scepter and the Orb) gala themed “European Royalty.” The seven of them plan an elaborate sting to slip it past McAllister Security at the event. Debbie has contrived to plant her ex-boyfriend Claude Becker (Richard Armitage) as Daphne's date to deflect the heat off the girls and onto him once her jewelry turns up missing. He's the one responsible for Debbie having been sent away in the first place.

Ideology

Debbie had once been Claude's confederate in an art scam. When he upped the game a notch, they got busted and he blamed it all on her while she kept mum (Police: “He's not being as tight-lipped as you are.”) (Prov. 11:13) “A tale­bearer revealeth secrets: but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter.” It's s.o.p. in police interrogations for the cops to separate two suspects, tell each that the other is no longer his friend and he's ratting you out. This in hopes of getting one or both to talk. The Supreme Court ruled that it is constitutional for the police to lie like that, just not the reverse, i.e. we're not allowed to lie to the police. Here Claude seemed all too willing to talk. And Debbie had five years in prison to plan her next heist. Her former partner-in-crime Lou (Cate Blanchett) picked up on it and told her, “You do not run a job in a job.” How­ever, they did need a fall guy to deflect the heat, so guess who?

Production Values

This crime caper, “” (2018) was directed by Gary Ross who with Olivia Milch wrote the screen­play. It stars Anne Hathaway, Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Sarah Paulson and Helena Bonham Carter. All the girls played cool criminals to the hilt, while Helena Bonham Carter played a nervous and insecure designer to good effect. James Corden as an SPD insurance investigator was the funny man.

MPAA rated it PG–13 for language, drug use, and some suggestive content. Rather than being a women-can-outdo-men number, Debbie's goal seems to be to live up to the example of her deceased brother Danny (George Clooney.) In fact she dare not plan to exceed her “simplicity” goal she stated at her parole hearing for fear of striking a false note. Her sister crooks are competent, to be sure, but none is world renowned. They don't share a humorous repartee, either; the only comedian is a man. The only one who does astounding acrobatic feats is, too, a man: The Amazing Yen (Shaobo Qin) in a side job. Where these women excel is where women always excel over men: in their easy ability to form social networks. Theirs is a divergent lot who come together well without friction.

Review Conclusion w/ Christian Recommendation

I rather liked this chick flick. I am easy to please and didn't expect it to compete with the male franchise on masculine terms. It's relaxing to sit and watch beautiful women dressed to the nines in elegant surroundings. As long as you're not trying to prove any­thing by this movie you should enjoy it.

Movie Ratings

Action factor: Decent action scenes. Suitability for Children: Suitable for children 13+ years with guidance. Special effects: Well done special effects. Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day. Suspense: A number of suspenseful moments. Overall movie rating: three stars out of five.