Ocean’s Thirteen

Debonair con-man Danny Ocean (George Clooney) and his crew (Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, etc.) go after a ruthless tycoon (Al Pacino) who cheated their pal (Elliott Gould) out of a fortune. The third film in the franchise is an improvement, without the smug celebrity preening that marred Ocean’s Twelve. (Julia Roberts isn’t along this time. Coincidence? Maybe.) The story is confusing, with a nagging feeling that it doesn’t make a lot of sense, but director Steven Soderbergh brings this one closer than the others to the spirit of the Frank Sinatra-Dean Martin-Peter Lawford original: a movie-star lark meant to divert us by its glamour, flash and hipness. That’s what the Rat Pack version did in 1960; if it creaks and wheezes now, well, this one probably will in 2054, too. But until then, who cares?