Ocean's 8--real movie or chick flick?

I heard about this movie last week and just now saw the trailer. Wondering how it will do. The plot seems to have zero to do with casinos but remains true to being a heist flick. I did not see why it has only 8 vs. 11, though getting even 8 women to get along on a crew might stretch believability. I doubt it can compete with the cleverness of "Ocean's 11" or the fun of "13." Both good in different ways. OTOH, I'd rather watch a test pattern than see "Ocean's 12" again.

Any thoughts? My biggest one is that if they try to make the women to act like guys, it flops. If they get cute with cameos, nobody takes it serious. I think it will be one of those periodic tests of "can women carry a movie?" Assuming the characters are written like the "11s" there is no excuse of "weak" characters. Question becomes, "can the actresses fill them?"

Stage "presence" is a weird thing. Some got it, some ain't got it. If not enough of the group got it, it flops.

I don't get this thing about women needing their own movie about the same thing. Needing their own baseball league, yeah, I get that, but then they get that and not enough people go to the games I guess. Men or women.

On the other hand maybe women will go to these movies? But I can't call it a chick flick, that has a different meaning to me.

Quote: odiousgambit

I don't get this thing about women needing their own movie about the same thing. Needing their own baseball league, yeah, I get that, but then they get that and not enough people go to the games I guess. Men or women.

On the other hand maybe women will go to these movies? But I can't call it a chick flick, that has a different meaning to me.

I rarely get it. I would like to see that version of "Glen Gary Glen Ross" made. I'd like to be the producer and do the casting. I think it would work and actresses would go wild to be part. But this is the exception.

Same with the Blacksploitation versions. They were going to do a black version of "Reservoir Dogs." Having been written for black characters, it might be neat. But "The New Odd Couple" with old scripts? Wonder why it lasted a month?

Its perhaps a MeToo movie. If you look at the credits of anything these days Producers, Writers, Casting Directors are all women anyway.

Quote: AZDuffman

I heard about this movie last week and just now saw the trailer. Wondering how it will do. The plot seems to have zero to do with casinos but remains true to being a heist flick. I did not see why it has only 8 vs. 11...

I assume it is because they hope to make 3 films, 8, 9 and 10. The problem I see is that the fellas in 11 brought “cool” with them. The swagger, the clever dialogue... guys in the audience wanted to be them, or be in the crew. Women in the audience wanted to be wanted by them.

It doesn’t work the other way around. Women in films with swagger end up as Mae West types, but you can only have one of them at a time.. well, maybe two if there’s a catfight... but not 8.

"If you're going to remake a movie, remake a bad one." -- Roger Ebert

They need a new English phrase for this... 'chick flick' is just not really what this is, is it?

I'm sorry but it seems to be some sort of agenda-driven hollyweird thing that somehow gets enough people to watch so that it is not financial disaster [necessarily]

Quote: Wizard

"If you're going to remake a movie, remake a bad one." -- Roger Ebert

+1

Quote: Ayecarumba

I assume it is because they hope to make 3 films, 8, 9 and 10. The problem I see is that the fellas in 11 brought “cool” with them. The swagger, the clever dialogue... guys in the audience wanted to be them, or be in the crew. Women in the audience wanted to be wanted by them.

It doesn’t work the other way around. Women in films with swagger end up as Mae West types, but you can only have one of them at a time.. well, maybe two if there’s a catfight... but not 8.

Yeah, makes sense 8/9/10. I agree with the women and swagger thing. I see 2 things with it. One, anyone knows that a group of women more than 2-3 cannot work as a team with a ton of issues. Second, as you kind of mentioned. Women will watch women "doing what the guys do." Men will not.

I guess I will see when it is on Netflix.

Quote: Ayecarumba

I assume it is because they hope to make 3 films, 8, 9 and 10.

There are 8 women in the heist gang: Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Awkwafina, Rihanna, and Helena Bonham Carter.

That's a pretty formidable cast, and I don't think I would bet too much money on it failing to make a profit just because the all female Ghostbusters failed.

Wonder Woman is often touted because it is the first wildly successful movie with a female superhero lead. I haven't seen the movie yet, but from the trailers it looks like a lot of it is that it is more of a romance than most superhero movies, and Chris Pine deserves his share of the credit.

Also the recent attention to female directors is still overshadowed by the fact that there is only 1 women in the top 100 film directors ranked by total domestic boxoffice gross. The 68 year old Nancy Myers who directed 6 films.
9/25/15 The Intern
12/25/09 It's Complicated
12/8/06 The Holiday
12/12/03 Something's Gotta Give
12/15/00 What Women Want
7/31/98 The Parent Trap


Nora Ephron is a somewhat successful director, with 8 films, but her biggest hit was 25 years ago with "Sleepless in Seattle".

Quote: Pacomartin

There are 8 women in the heist gang: Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Awkwafina, Rihanna, and Helena Bonham Carter.

The reason Lara Croft was successful
is because it was just her acting like
a male superhero. A bunch of women
doing that would be grotesque.

Just reading the 8 names on the list,
my sphincter tightened up and I got
real antsy. Women have a herd mentality
and they gang up on men every chance
they get. That will be men's reaction to
this movie, uncomfortable nervousness.