Back when George Clooney assembled his all-male assemble for Ocean’s Eleven, I watched the film but have no real memory of its plot. Sure, I know that he gathered some friends who each had a special skill needed for a heist. I believe that film was set in Las Vegas.   But I don’t remember the personalities. I don’t remember how the heist was pulled off. I’m a film person. I have a great memory. And yet, Ocean’s Eleven left me with no memories.  I am now even starting to wonder if I even actually watched the film. Maybe I just believe that I did since so many other people have seen it.  Isn’t it funny how we can invent memories? It’s true that can happen. But I will go into memories at some other time.   As I have a point to get to here.

Is Ocean’s 8 more memorable than Ocean’s Eleven?  Only time will tell, I suppose. Oh, I do have bone to pick with the titles of the two films but I just won’t go into that here either. But I did find the movie tolerable. Actually, more than tolerable. It was amusing.   Until, just after the heist was pulled off, that is. I was a bit bored once they brought in  James Corden as the insurance investigator assigned to the heist and he started hamming it up. If they could have finished the movie earlier or skipped the investigation part I would have been happier. But otherwise, it was a fun simple movie that even my skeptical nine year old son liked. Or rather, didn’t hate.

My son and I had a mommy/son day where we went out for brunch and then caught a movie. He had never heard of Ocean’s 8 but was willing to go long with it if it made me happy.  At brunch, he had his favorite chicken strips and I had a tikki cocktail.  It was yummy and set the mood for the film. As we sat in the theater, both my son and I really got into the heist planning and how they ended up carrying it out. He thought certain parts of the crime were really cool. Hmm. Should I be worried? He also noticed that there were no guys who were part of the Ocean’s 8 crew.   I asked him what he thought about that and he shrugged noting that there was nothing strange about it and thus I shouldn’t be asking about that.  He totally thought that I could lead such a crew since I know so much about operations.   I am so thrilled that my son thinks I could pull of a major heist worth more than $150 million.  He has confidence in my abilities. I sure hope he maintains that perspective as he grows into his tweens and teens.

Besides the clever heist, I felt that Anne Hathaway really gave this movie some zing. I suppose she was riffing about her perceived persona.   If she can poke fun at herself that way, then I am more than happy to go along with it.   But my favorite character was Awkwafina’s skateboarding pickpocket.  Out of all the characters in the film, she was the most New York to me. Everyone else seemed a tourist of sorts. She seemed like a crazed, hardened, funny New Yorker and I can get behind that.

I have been making it a point to try to see more movies this year and I do not regret catching this one.