Ocean's 8 is the LaCroix of movies: It's sparkly, it's fizzy, it goes down easy, and there's not really any there there.
It's not totally dumb, but nor is it particularly clever. It's nice enough to look at, thanks to all its glamorous stars and their glitzy costumes, but not especially stylish.
But just as flavored water can really hit the spot on a hot summer day, so can Ocean's 8. It's fun enough to serve as an excuse to chill with some friends, or while away an afternoon in movie theater air-conditioning.
And for all its shortcomings, it does deliver in some key areas. Here are five reasons to check it out.
5. The girl-power message, I guess
The basic premise of Ocean's 8 is that it's Ocean's 11, only with eight women instead of eleven men, and with the Met Gala instead of Las Vegas. In this era of shared universes, of course there's a narrative link to the earlier films – the ringleader in 8 is Sandra Bullock's Debbie Ocean, sister of George Clooney's character from the Steven Soderbergh movies.
The act of recasting what was once a "male" property with female leads still feels like a statement in this day and age – even if it all it's saying are "women are people, too." Ocean's 8 occasionally nods in the direction of feminist messaging, having one leading lady point out to another that women get ignored (a plus, when you're trying to pull off a heist) and another execute a stunt involving the country's "Founding Mothers."
For the most part, though, Ocean's 8 lets those themes recede into the background. It doesn't want to tell you how powerful it can be when women band together in a man's world – it just wants to show you how fun it'd be to round up a girl gang and steal some jewels. In its own way, that's kind of empowering, too.
4. The vivid personalities – and fanfic-worthy pairings
Like any good ensemble caper, Ocean's 8 establishes a cast of colorful personalities, and spends some time sitting back to see what happens when they mix.
There are a few scenes that seem tailor made to inspire fan fiction.
This particular crew does happen to be starrier than usual. In addition to Bullock, there's Cate Blanchett as her right-hand woman Lou; Sarah Paulson as retired criminal Tammy; Helena Bonham Carter as disgraced designer Rose; Mindy Kaling as jewelry expert Amita; Awkwafina as pickpocket Constance; and Rihanna as hacker Nine-Ball. Some get more screen time than others, but everyone gets a moment or two to shine.
The ladies mostly get along, John Mulaney's silly joke be damned, and Ocean's 8 rarely throws them an obstacle they can't clear in five minutes. This is a feature, not a bug – Ocean's 8 is aiming more for "easygoing" than "thrilling."
But there are surprising sparks to be found in some of the pairings. Bullock plays Debbie with a breezy confidence that makes it easy to see how she keeps talking her way into and out of trouble, and this shows itself particularly with Lou and Tammy. There are a few scenes between them that seem tailor made to inspire fanfiction across the internet... even if, sadly, none of these women actually make out in the movie.
3. The dresses, dear God, the dresses
All of this planning culminates in a heist to be executed at the Met Gala, and Ocean's 8 does not skimp on the glitz and glitter. Ocean's 8 is a movie that understands the simple pleasure of watching pretty movie stars put on pretty gowns, and gives you plenty of time to soak it all in.
Minutes upon minutes are spent oohing and ahhing over the enormous diamond necklace that Debbie and her crew are after, and still more minutes are spent admiring how good the thing looks draped around Anne Hathaway's neck.
Admittedly, the fashions on display at the Ocean's version of the Met Gala are less extravagantly weird than the ones that tend to get all the attention at the real Met Gala. Even Daphne Kluger, the movie star and Met Gala host played by Anne Hathaway, wears a sleek pink number that's only slightly more dramatic than a typical red-carpet premiere dress.
On the other hand, Ocean's 8 is probably the closest most of us will ever get to attending the actual Met Gala – to climbing those stairs surrounded by photographers, to say nothing of being invited to dine and drink in the museum with the city's rich and famous. So we're going to call that a win for us.
2. Anne Hathaway's comedy chops
Oh, and speaking of Hathaway: She's Ocean's 8's secret weapon.
As with Michelle Williams in I Feel Pretty earlier this year, some of the fun comes from how different Daphne is from the more serious or grounded characters we've seen Hathaway play in films like Interstellar and Les Misérables. Daphne is one of the most overtly comical roles she's done in a while, and her performance here reminds us what we've been missing.
But Daphne's also just a fantastic character – a vain and ditzy movie star who fulfills every stereotype we've ever held about vain and ditzy movie stars, written with enough warmth and played with enough specificity to keep Daphne from tipping over into caricature.
1. Cate Blanchett's suits
Yes, yes, we already mentioned the costumes above. But Blanchett's outfits in this thing are on a whole other level.
Lou sticks mostly to a wardrobe of sharply tailored suits in unusual colors and fabrics, like sequins or green velvet. Blanchett makes each one look so effortlessly rock-n-roll cool that by the end of the film, I wondered if I could possibly pull off a powder-blue suit piled down with a dozen gold necklaces. (I can't, to be clear, but it's a testament to the magic of Ocean's 8 that I even considered it for a brief, shining moment.)
For all the Met Gala glamour, Lou's everyday outfits are really the fashion highlight of Ocean's 8. Maybe that's no surprise, considering Blanchett works a red carpet better than almost anyone else in Hollywood. If you need a wardrobe refresh and are looking for fashion inspo, look no further than every single thing Blanchett wears in this film.
