Sandra Bullock, Rihanna’s Ocean’s 8 gets a reluctant thumbs up from critics
Critics are complaining about how the talents of actors such as Anne Hathaway, Sandra Bullock and Cate Blanchett were wasted by director Gary Ross in Ocean’s 8.
The critical reception for Ocean’s 8 may not be what the makers had hoped for but it definitely isn’t too bad. Gary Ross’s (The Hunger Games and Pleasantville) new heist movie has opened to a good response from reviewers with a 79% ‘fresh’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
The film, with its impressive all-female cast of Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Rihanna and Awkwafina, premiered in New York on Tuesday.
Many critics complained that the talents of stalwarts like Bullock, Hathaway and Blanchett were wasted in the film.“There’s a glaring incompetency here in Ross bringing such talents together and not knowing what the hell to do with them,” wrote The Guardian’s Benjamin Lee in his review.
“I left Ocean’s 8 more convinced than ever that no amount of fierce, fantastic female ensembles can overcome the mediocrity of a dull male director,” wrote Emily Yoshida for Vulture.com.
But Wenlei Ma of News.com.au decided to look at the bright side. “The plot-holes galore story isn’t really why you’re here. It’s about spending time with these women. Because they look like they’re having fun, you want to have fun with them,” she wrote in her review. “It looks and feels the part without ever overegging it. And if the script could have done with a touch more sass and the direction a little more distinction, the cast is divine and the overall effect is entertainingly empowered,” wrote Emma Simmonds of Radio Times.
Ocean’s 8 is the fourth part of the hit franchise kicked off in 2001 with Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s 11. The original starred George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and more.
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