I had expected more of this film.I expected a great plot,charming characters and lotsa suspense and romance.Instead it turned out to be just a vehicle for Jennifer Lopez to show her acting skills and George Clooney to play a smartass charmer(hmm,isn't this familiar?).The story starts out well,but then it takes a 180 degree turn into a rather boring robber story.
First flaw with the film is the character of Glenn.What is the point with this awful,annoying character?!?This is where the film first starts to show signs of typical Hollywood stupidity.There is no need for this guy and he doesn't do ANYTHING.He was a major pain in the ass to me and I found it hard to keep myself from changing the channel every time I saw him.Second flaw is that there is no point with all the flashbacks, the use of them was exaggerated by the cocky and over-ambitious Soderbergh.The background story with Jack Foley and his inmate friends really fails to make a meaningful connection to the rest of the plot.
The pluses of this picture were Lopez and Catherine Keener,both good to look at and solid in their roles.Also Ving Rhames was quite good as the faithful pal Buddy.The showdown scene in the end where White Boy trips and shoots himself in the head was worth watching.Don Cheadle was OK,although not impressive.But George Clooney,although he didn't give a bad performance,failed to impress and really show himself as actor the way he did in "From dusk till dawn","One fine day" and "O brother where art thou?",and also "ER".Samuel L. makes a nice cameo at the end.
So my conclusion is that this film tried to be too much somehow.It betted on one horse too many.I had liked it better if it was more focused on romance than all the robbery schemes and the dark past of its main male protagonist.For me,who had expected it to be a hidden gem of late 90's,it was a disappointment(although not major).What the heck,at least we got to see Clooney and JLO do it.;)
