The Gang's All Here in 'Ocean's Twelve'

Dec. 10, 2004 — -- Now in theaters: "Ocean's Twelve."

Ocean's Twelve

"Ocean's Eleven" made $450 million at the box office. There's no other reason for the sequel. Well, one other. The cast had so much fun making the original, they wanted to do it again.

I'm usually the critic who says, OK, they had fun making the movie; what's fair is if they paid us to watch it. But this gang of thieves stole my heart.

You remember the original. Don Cheadle turns out the lights. There's panic in the casinos. Either that or the Pacers are playing the Pistons in the Grand Ballroom. And George Clooney and company use the diversion to steal $160 million.

Now it's three years later, and Andy Garcia wants it back. Or else.

In "Eleven," Brad Pitt is unattached. In "Twelve," he has a girl: Catherine Zeta-Jones.

One problem: She's a cop. Actually, a detective.

There are so many stars, if they paid this cast their usual salaries, they'd have to make the movie without film. How'd they get 'em? Here's one way: They worked their vacations into the plot.

"We're too hot to work in this country," says Matt Damon. "Where are we going?" responds George Clooney.

How about Europe? Amsterdam. Paris. Rome. And when some of the stars had scheduling conflicts, they worked that into the plot, too.

Don Cheadle has almost nothing to do. Bernie Mac spends almost the entire film off-camera and in jail.

"Ocean's Twelve" isn't much of a caper, it's not much of a movie. What makes it so much fun is how they make fun of themselves.

The best: They need a diversion. Julia Roberts' character has to pretend to be someone so famous the crowd will look at her while the gang pulls off the heist. So she pretends to be ... Julia Roberts. And she almost gets away with it.

Yes, it's like watching somebody's home movies. Except they're George Clooney's and Brad Pitt's and Julia Roberts' home movies. And yes, you would sit and watch those. And so would I.

The movie really falls apart at the end. But how can I complain about that? The same thing is happening to me.

Grade: B.