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The Rewatchables ·

Ocean's Eleven

year 2001decade 00sdirector Steven Soderberghgenre Drama
host Chris Ryanhost Juliet Litmanhost Sean Fennesseyhost Amanda Dobbins
All 13 categories

Most Rewatchable Scene · 19:47

The poker scene

The category is hard for this film because it is defined by flow rather than individual scenes, and the heist itself goes on without distinguished scenes, so the nominees are top-heavy: the poker scene including Danny Ocean's entrance and banter, Ruben's introduction with the three Vegas robbery attempts scored to Take My Breath Away, Clooney's this-is-how-we're-gonna-do-it monologue, and the Claire de Lune montage of the guys looking at the fountain.

Claire de Lune has been one host's alarm sound for ten years, a beautiful way to wake up thinking about the eleven career criminals staring at a fountain; it is called the most iconic scene, very still with few faces, the band breaking up, a beautiful end note on a well-executed heist; a running bit insists the show will not be celebrating a movie about bad people.

The Neil McCauley “A Book about Metals” Award for Best Line from the Movie · 55:47

"does he make you laugh?"

The Danny and Tess exchange, does he make you laugh answered with he doesn't make me cry, with an incredible line reading by Julia; Danny's house-always-wins speech, joked to be headed for Sean's tombstone, with Rusty's did-you-practice-that follow-up as part of its greatness.

The film

Ocean's Eleven (2001)

Directed by Steven Soderbergh · Drama

116 minutes

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Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

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Everything from the episode

In the order the hosts got to it. Open a row for the discussion.

19:47

Most Rewatchable Scene

The poker scene

The poker scene

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 00:19:47Read transcript
  • The category is hard for this film because it is defined by flow rather than individual scenes, and the heist itself goes on without distinguished scenes, so the nominees are top-heavy: the poker scene including Danny Ocean's entrance and banter, Ruben's introduction with the three Vegas robbery attempts scored to Take My Breath Away, Clooney's this-is-how-we're-gonna-do-it monologue, and the Claire de Lune montage of the guys looking at the fountain.
  • Claire de Lune has been one host's alarm sound for ten years, a beautiful way to wake up thinking about the eleven career criminals staring at a fountain; it is called the most iconic scene, very still with few faces, the band breaking up, a beautiful end note on a well-executed heist; a running bit insists the show will not be celebrating a movie about bad people.
  • Asked for a most rewatchable scene, she has a list of about twelve that includes everything already mentioned; the one actual standalone scene is Danny and Tess at dinner the first time, which is Julia Roberts on eleven. — Amanda Dobbins
  • The dinner scene shows the level of the writing and their chemistry; the House Always Wins speech is loved because every Clooney-and-Pitt aside is a delight, it is the one with actual proper nouns, and the 'been practicing that' deflation sums up the charm of the movie: something cool that gets punctured by a sarcastic joke; the clip is played.
  • Linus doing recon and presenting Terry Benedict's whole day, ending with Julia Roberts' entrance, is almost as good as Clooney coming up the escalator as she walks down, with Brad Pitt eating his shrimp cocktail, a favorite of his foods.
  • Rewatching the night before, Bernie Mac is very funny: every line, the encounter with the van dealership guy that feels like a different movie, and the stage showdown with Linus in front of Terry Benedict.
  • The poker scene gives a contact high: being in on a joke the others are not, the patter, the Incan matrimonial head mask market and fencing, a peek at their career criminal nature; it is visually distinct, dark with lighting that breaks the screen around the round table against the sun-drenched Vegas, and shows why Brad Pitt, bored and staring at mermaids in LA bars, wants this; the car shot on the way to Musso and Franks is loved, and the poker scene is picked out of affection.
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25:55

What’s Aged the Best?

The tone

The tone

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 00:25:55Read transcript
  • Three candidates cover it: the tone, George Clooney's suits, and the heist.
  • A sartorial question asks whether Clooney here invented the open shirt collar with a suit; invent is a strong word, he popularized or cemented a Vegas rich-guy cool look; his reserved navy, gray and white contrasts with Pitt's loudness and the Ted Nugent's shirt line, showing the alpha and omega of the pair; perfect frame, height, hair and tailoring for 2001, turning a look that can go Vegas lounge rat into Cary Grant; it may have started in Out of Sight after the Jennifer Lopez encounter.
  • Swingers, seen coming out of high school, is try-hard and stressful about Vegas: get the suits, drive six hours; this is effortless, as if everyone is at a spa though it was probably 101 degrees and everyone needed moisturizing cream; iridescent, shimmery clothes on Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts; one host loves Soderbergh and calls The Knicks (as transcribed) a favorite show.
  • The getting-a-gang-together sequence was reinvented here and has been ripped off for fifteen years, patently absurd like the Greaseman setup observed at Barnum's and the travels to Florida to get Saul; the tone is named as what aged best, encapsulating it all.
  • The heist, almost twenty years later, could have been technologically dependent and silly, but the mechanics still seem entirely plausible, a vault working that way and cutting a phone line, with no cheesy CGI or made-up words; smart or lucky, maybe both.
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29:58

What’s Aged the Worst?

Brad Pitt's clothes, especially his ties; the film's Rat Pack-era view of Las Vegas rather than the pool-party era

Brad Pitt's clothes, especially his ties; the film's Rat Pack-era view of Las Vegas rather than the pool-party era

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 00:29:58Read transcript
  • Only Brad Pitt's suits and clothes, specifically his ties; everything else is for a character, and it is Brad Pitt; a collar joke gets no comment.
  • Asked what aged the worst, she picks that view of Las Vegas: it does not capture the pool party vibe advertised on billboards in LA for DJ Pauly D, and speaks to a Rat Pack Frank Sinatra vision rather than the 2018 version where you will see Wayne Rooney at the pool. — Juliet Litman
  • In Vegas in the last five years you can have both: avoid the pool excess at 2 a.m. and still have the version where you wear a suit and feel cool, so it has not expired, though the Bellagio is not as powerful as the movie makes it seem; a version made now would need a celebrity chef endorsement, given Pitt's eating, and maybe a Golden Knights game.
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34:33

The Dion Waiters Award for Best Heat Check Performance

Elliot Gould

Elliot Gould

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 00:34:33Read transcript
  • Clooney, Pitt and Damon are set aside as the stars; the nominees are Elliot Gould (as transcribed), the preseason number one pick, Cheadle, Scott Kahn, Casey Affleck, Julia and Topher Grace.
  • Gould, no question: a beautiful, perfect, smart casting choice to evoke cool, funny, slick, jazzy 70s heist thrillers, really funny, and the character who says what a normal human would say about robbing a casino being blatantly absurd; Arkin would have been great too.
  • Another pick is Julia: she is this close to hating everyone on any set, and under the America's sweetheart smile there is an undercurrent of disdain and impatience that Soderbergh understands and that animates the whole performance; on screen about eight minutes, electric, and parceled out well.
  • One host wanted more Tess and how she and Danny came together; the counter is the rule of Jay Z and Beyonce that less is more, and that teasing out why Tess is with either man makes it fall apart; Julia Roberts is never outside in sunlight, probably shot over three nights, raising the question whether a curator of her taste would consent to a sunless, air-conditioned Vegas life, though she was married to a thief and precious art cannot see the light either.
  • Another vote goes to Bernie Mac, for the table scene, though he was not nominated, which draws a Jill Stein write-in joke.
  • Gould is interesting because people the hosts' age know him as Monica's father, so the godfather role here throws him back toward what he was truly famous for; a second vote for Gould as connective tissue to the 70s films Soderbergh references and as what the Rat Pack guys would be if they got old and stinking rich, living off the strip in a house they cannot afford, selling remaindered furniture with a butler; Gould is the pick.
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38:54

Apex Mountain

Brad Pitt; George Clooney (vote split); Steven Soderbergh (vote split)

Brad Pitt; George Clooney (vote split); Steven Soderbergh (vote split)

In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 00:38:54Read transcript
  • Brad Pitt is a 100 percent yes: never loved more than as Rusty Ryan, not close, met with a wow and a to-each-their-own aside, and a third voice agrees with both.
  • This is the closest anyone will get to hanging out with Brad Pitt, the hoped-for good version, a shrimp cocktail chewing joke machine, as opposed to a man at a party talking about his architecture and a fancy table; one host likes a few performances more but calls this his most charming and least actory; he is scaling the mountain.
  • Clooney draws a no and a yes; one case is for ER and The Perfect Storm, which catapulted him to movie stardom while he filmed an ER episode; another says this is who he is supposed to be, Clooney at his essential, with Clayton and Out of Sight heard but not preferred.
  • He is better at this than capital-A acting; he channels Nick Clooney and essentially hosts a TV show in the how-we're-going-to-do-the-job monologue; per the director's commentary the monologue was shot about a hundred times over two nights for coverage of nine people, timed to the blueprint video, with his close-ups last; his athletic side fits, since good athletes nail repetition, and he was drafted by the Reds and plays basketball.
  • Another yes for Clooney: when he goes serious like Siriana (as transcribed) he grits his teeth and overdoes it, and in comedy he goes wide-eyed and hammy like Buster Keaton, even in the jokey Out of Sight with Steve Zahn; this is one of the only movies where preternatural cool is the whole point; another is torn between Out of Sight, more honest about a career criminal and schlubby, and this, so the vote is split.
  • Matt Damon is not: no chance; candidates are The Martian, Good Will Hunting (incredible despite being so early), Bourne (not enough talking) and Ripley, a great movie but Paltrow's apex and Jude's rather than his.
  • Soderbergh gets a nope, with Behind the Candelabra guessed; the case for this film is that it is the last time he was concerned with relevance, forgoing experimentation to work inside a studio system he has openly said he hates, which he did three times, underwriting his liqueur business; another loves his small movies, would watch The Limey every day, and thinks Out of Sight is his best; there is adoration for the Nick (as transcribed), provocative and beautifully shot, canceled because no one else cared.
  • Ocean's Eleven is chosen as Soderbergh's apex and seconded, against the earlier nope and the preference for Out of Sight, so that vote is split too.
  • Ocean's Twelve belongs to the experimental side of Soderbergh, commenting on the idea of a sequel better than anyone could; he is an accomplished technical filmmaker who, unlike most auteurs, understands the enjoyment of going to a movie, visible in his year-end culture diaries watching Social Network twenty times; she is here to have fun, and this film is the thesis statement for that attitude. — Amanda Dobbins
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57:46

Is This Movie Better With…?

No, it's perfect; or Trejo as Bruiser, the man who beats up Clooney

No, it's perfect; or Trejo as Bruiser, the man who beats up Clooney

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 00:57:46Read transcript
  • One answer is absolutely not, the movie is perfect; another has Danny Trejo playing Bruiser, the guy who beats up Clooney.
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57:46

The Ruffalo / Hanna / Rubinek / Partridge Overacting Award

Don Cheadle's accent

Don Cheadle's accent

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:57:46Read transcript
  • Asked for a candidate, she questions whether it counts as overacting: Damon is the one not quite comfortable performance; he is supposed to be the squirrely younger guy who wants to fit in, but he plays the discomfort a little and looks too confused, the opposite of Ruffalo screaming. — Amanda Dobbins
  • Damon trying a little too hard for the banter and rhythm is called the same thing in a way; Cheadle's accent is legit terrible, really bad, and the choice, perhaps why he was not top billed; he reportedly agreed it was bad and tried to change it in 12 and 13.
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1:01:31

Who Won the Movie?

Brad Pitt vs. George Clooney (1-1 on explicit ballots; a further Pitt endorsement may be a second voice)

Brad Pitt vs. George Clooney (1-1 on explicit ballots; a further Pitt endorsement may be a second voice)

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:01:31Read transcript
  • The candidates are Clooney, Pitt, Damon or Soderbergh; the first pick is Brad Pitt, as much as that host loves George Clooney, called a plot twist: effervescent, understated, perfect, and also so hot.
  • A further endorsement of Pitt, not counted as a ballot because it may be the same voice as the first pick: watching every second of him, his voice and that suit; Clooney gets to play this character in life and movies all the time, including at Harry and Meghan's wedding, while Pitt rarely gets this role, so it is good for his legend; he is an astonishing sidekick for a guy who otherwise has to carry Meet Joe Black, standing to the side eating snacks and delivering one-liners; he won easily.
  • The case for George Clooney: his biggest hit except Gravity, which does not really need him; the only real franchise he has been part of, since people forget the Batman movie; he has stayed one of the most famous people in the world for 25 years without doing what stars do to stay huge, and this was the one time he leaned into the center of his celebrity, and the movie does not work without him; the argument is liked, since after Michael Clayton there are few signature Clooney performances, but he found love so he is fine.
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