When Willy Bank (Al Pacino) double-crossed Reuben Tishkoff (Elliott Gould) he never took the time to calculate the odds someone might want to get even. But when you cross one member of the original Ocean’s eleven then you might as well have crossed them all, because Danny (George Clooney), Rusty (Brad Pitt), Linus (Matt Damon) and all the rest of the gang have very long memories, immense stores of patience and talents most people have never thought of let alone dream about.

Now Willy is facing the unthinkable, a high-stakes gamble by a group of criminal superstars only looking to knock him off his five-diamond pedestal. The plan is complicated, the target borderline impossible and it is going to take all of their collective smarts and capabilities to do the unthinkable. But the team is undeterred. After all, Willy shook Sinatra’s hand so for them, breaking The Bank isn’t just another job, it’s also justice.

Thank goodness for Ocean’s Thirteen! Not only does this third chapter of the popular series erase the bad memories of the lackluster and uneven second chapter, it also becomes the first trilogy ender of the summer actually worth the price of admission. The movie is a breezily intoxicating delight, and while it doesn’t quite capture the unabashed charm and freshness of the original it comes just close enough to easily be branded a success.

I really enjoyed this. Steven Soderbergh (The Good German) handles the proceedings as smoothly and as efficiently as ever, while new writers Brian Koppelman and David Levien (Rounders) gleefully return the series to its roots by bringing the action back to Vegas. This heist is fun, and unlike Ocean’s Twelve where it felt like the cast was having a far better time making the movie then we were watching it this time around the good vibes are distributed judiciously for everyone to enjoy.

It’s not perfect, of course. As entertaining as it all is, Pacino isn’t given near enough to do to become the truly hissable villain I kept wishing he would be. There is also a need to make sure and include references and characters introduced in the previous installments, and while it is nice to see Eddie Izzard and Vincent Cassel I can’t exactly say their presence is all that necessary. There is also a side trip to Mexico that’s borderline ludicrous, the worker’s strike cooked up by Virgil Malloy (Casey Affleck) abut as idiotic as anything I’ve seen in quite some time.

But the rest is about as delightful as a movie like this can get. Ellen Barkin, one of my favorites thanks to Sea of Love and The Big Easy, is just simply divine as Bank’s right hand (and Linus’ object of affection) Abigail Sponder. David Paymer is a brutally funny hoot as a put-upon rube the gang put through the ringer only because he’s at the casino to give it an all-important rating, while Bob Einstein (Super Dave Osborne to most people) is splendid as a government agent looking to put a crimp in the team’s operation.

The real reason to see this, of course, is to watch the cast of amiable superstars play off one another for a third, and hopefully delicious, time. None of them disappoint. Clooney, Pitt, Damon, Affleck, Don Cheadle, Bernie Mac, Scott Caan, Carl Reiner, Shaobo Qin and Andy Garcia all returning to their now signature roles with whimsical ease. These guys know how to work with one another and they know how to make things entertaining for an audience, all of them working in such pleasantly enchanting tandem the movie can’t help but be an effervescently pleasing amusement.

It goes without saying this film is never going to be construed as anything more than a wonderful good time and nothing else. This isn’t one of the year’s best films but, then, it also isn’t meant to be. This is one case where pop entertainment is actually entertaining and I for one am not going to begrudge the filmmakers and stars for crafting it not one little bit. As good date night investments go, Ocean’s Thirteen is a pleasingly winning bet.

Film Rating:  êêê  (out of 4)