Ocean's 13 vs The Matador

For my money, there’s not a better comic team in movies right now than Casey Affleck and Scott Caan. As the bickering Malloy brothers, Affleck and Caan have powered the Ocean’s movies to two sequels and millions of dollars in the box office.

At least in my world.

The Malloy brothers, Virgil and Turk, are the true reason I saw Ocean’s Thirteen, and they make the biggest argument for the continuation of the series. Each member of Danny Ocean’s team of con artists has a special skill. The Malloy brothers specialize in…things with motors? Computers? I think it’s computers, but all of Ocean’s men seem good with computers, and motors for that matter, so maybe not. What I think they specialize in is brotherhood. The Ocean’s Eleven guys (and even through higher numbered sequels, the main team is still just the eleven) all have a deep respect for each other, a natural rapport, and a camaraderie you don’t usually see among movie grifters. That these guys have made it three movies and not conned each other is pretty incredible. And I think we owe it to the Malloy brothers. As long as these guys are around, the Ocean’s team is a family, with the Malloy brothers serving as junior members for the others to mentor (you might think this role is filled by the Matt Damon character, but you’re wrong. Damon’s Linus is a pro using naiveté as a cover. If anyone’s ever gonna double-cross the other guys, it’s him.)

This time, the mission is more personal. With their friend Reuben (Elliott Gould) lying at death’s door, the Malloy brothers must go undercover to help their friends get revenge. And not just any revenge: CASINO REVENGE. Oh, and not just any CASINO REVENGE, but CASINO REVENGE…VEGAS STYLE. Virgil (Affleck) heads down to Mexico to work in a dice factory, while Turk (Caan) assumes the identity of a waiter in the casino. In Mexico , though, something else is happening. Virgil, mustachioed and speaking perfect Spanish, becomes sympathetic about the working conditions in the factory. He befriends the other workers, and soon becomes a revolutionary for the working man, organizing a strike and demanding higher pay and better working conditions. Turk travels to Mexico to get Virgil back on task (if the factory isn’t running, the dice can’t be made, and if the dice can’t be made, they can’t be altered, and if they can’t be altered, the Casino Revenge can’t go down as planned), but ends up joining the protest himself. The scenes in Mexico have an urgency I haven’t seen in a Steven Soderbergh movie since Traffic, and a comedic originality I haven’t seen in a movie this year, period.

Oh, and the rest of the guys are good too. Clooney, Pitt, Damon, fake noses, quick dialogue etc. Al Pacino is in this one, playing the devil, and a sleek as hell Ellen Barkin shows up as his cool-on-the-outside female Smithers. The entire cast rocks, is funny, and of course, is dressed to the nines. But for me, it’s Malloy’s Ten, and it always will be.

Just how much screen time do the Malloy brothers get in Ocean’s Thirteen? Collectively, I’d say about twenty minutes. In the three movies, they fall shy of having enough footage for even one movie. Someone in Hollywood should get on that. Lemmon and Matthau have been dead for a few years now. What’s say we start grooming Affleck and Caan to take their place?

You know what would be a good start? Something like The Matador. Greg Kinnear (or, you know, Casey Affleck) plays Danny Wright, a traveling salesman living a dull, ordinary life. He’s got a loving wife (Hope Davis), and a nice house, but something is missing. On a trip to Mexico City, he meets Julian Noble (Pierce Brosnan/Scott Caan), a hitman in town on a different kind of business. Danny’s young son has died, and Julian’s having a mid-life career crisis, and each of them sees something in the other, and they start an odd, tentative friendship. Julian is fairly needy though, and before you know it, Danny is back in the states, and Julian is visiting.

The Matador is a good movie. It’s a comedy, sure, and a bit of a thriller, but neither of those labels does it much service. The Matador is a character piece, primarily, with Julian and Danny each challenging their ideas of what’s expected in their respective lives and careers (Kinnear and Brosnan are doing the same thing). The Matador was written and directed by Richard Shepard with affection and respect for the characters and the actors playing them (everyone’s on top of their game, including Hope Davis and Phillip Baker Hall). I would love to see what he could do for Casey Affleck and Scott Caan (and some great, underused actress like Zooey Deschanel or Parker Posey). Who knows, they might eventually get their own franchise. Grumpy Old Men 2047? I’m there.

Ocean’s Thirteen: B+
The Matador: B+