What makes Ocean’s Eight (2018) enjoyable

Ocean’s Eight (2018) makes for a fun viewing experience for women, and it's easy to see why. For once, the lead characters are, without exception, women. So it scores well for women’s presence and voice. Also, and this is significant, it contains no violence against women (VAW). Additionally, antagonism between women is minimal and somewhat comical. Although the focus on looks is significant this is partly counterbalanced by fact that the lead females are shown eating in seven scenes. Ocean’s Eight also offers some things Hollywood movies rarely include, namely women over thirty (two are over forty and two are over fifty), praise for females (Rihanna calls her little sister a genius, and an insurance fraud investigator describes Sandra Bullock’s heist as brilliant), congeniality between women (e.g. Helena Bonham Carter says to her accomplices, “Love you. Love you. Love you”) and a plot that involves a woman getting back at a man who wronged her. Moreover, it is full of nice touches like Nancy Sinatra’s These Boots are Made for Walkin’ and humorous lines like Bullock’s pep talk to her accomplices before their big diamond heist: “Somewhere out there is an eight-year-old girl lying in bed dreaming of being a criminal. Let’s do this for her.” Ocean’s Eight sexualizes women less than most feature films released in the second decade of the 21st century—in spite of showing the leads looking like streetwalkers on the movie poster. Forget Bad Moms (2016). Ocean’s Eight is the ticket for a girls’ night in.

​© 2019 Alline Cormier