To be fair, I don't exactly think I'm the target audience for Ocean's 8, an all-female update on the successful Ocean's franchise that was headlined by the likes of George Clooney, Matt Damon and Brad Pitt, but I like to think I'm a cinemagoer that's always up for a good fun time at the movies but that's something that is inexcusably and notably absent from this charmless, lifeless and DOA female-centric heist caper.

Born out of Hollywood's recent spate of female driven updates and redo's that have been born out of the industry trying to make up for past mistakes and inequalities perceived or otherwise, Ocean's 8 should be a silly yet entertaining ride (who doesn't love a cheeky heist flick?) but as directed by The Hunger Games Gary Ross, this mundane exercise in wannabe hipness and sassy smarts is the type of film that exudes self-worth and believes itself to be something that unfortunately it is not.

Ocean's 11 from 2001 coasted by on its assured and energetic direction from Steven Soderbergh, its endless supply of entertaining characters joined with on-point acting turns and thrilling set-up yet while Ocean's 8 has the named brand director, a cast of A-listers and up and comers and a supposedly daring jewellery heist at its disposal, it never gets close to capturing the mix of thrills and laughs that you'd expect from a film that's guised in the Ocean's name.

A major and glaring issue with Ocean's 8 is that every single character in this film is either unlikeable or just not built up enough and when your whole narrative revolves around a heist that is not once even slightly believable, the characters in Ross's film needed to be the key ingredient to make things tick along.

Led by a wooden central turn from Sandra Bullock as Danny Ocean's recently released from prison sister Debbie, the likes of Cate Blanchett as the stoic biker chick Lou, Helena Bonham Carter as the off-kilter Irish designer Rose and Anne Hathaway as the Hollywood starlet Daphne Kluger all cast members fail to make a mark in their roles and while the marketing for this film would make us all believe we have a sisterhood of sorts going on here both on and off-screen, there's no real charm or chemistry shared between this cast and when compared with their all-male lead counterparts from 2001, this cast pales in comparison.

We never get the witty interplay between the rag-tag crew Debbie assembles to pull off a necklace heist at the famed Met Gala and we never get any real sense that these underdeveloped members of the gang really share any type of real friendship, making it extremely hard to care about their successes robbing the rich and wearing nice clothes whilst doing so.

The other detrimental issue to Ocean's 8 outside of the far too convenient heist and its various eyebrow raising conveniences (gang members getting jobs at Vogue magazine, random catering contracts) and its charmless cast interactions is that Ross's film is criminally unfunny.

For a film about a bunch of crooks and con artists it's a shame the most obvious crime here is just how lame Gary Ross's and Olivia Milch's script is and it's been sometime since I've been privy to a film of this ilk that just failed to completely in creating any memorable zingers or sequences that would make it appear to be a better film than it in fact is.

Final Say -

I've been told the fashion in Ocean's 8 is something to keep you interested (at least my wife thinks so)so at least there's that but outside of some pretty dresses and some Hollywood glitz and glamour, Ocean's 8 is a sad attempt to showcase the girls can do crime capers as good as the guys can and it's a shame such a talented cast should be wasted on such a poorly executed attempt at popcorn entertainment.

1 jar of Nutella out of 5

Heist films are a pretty sure bet if you are looking for entertaining pictures. I could name many, many excellent heist films...and would have a hard time coming up with a bad one. In this tradition, "Ocean's Eight" is yet another really enjoyable film.

Unlike the recent "Ocean's 11" and "Ocean's 12", this film in the franchise has a cast of all female thieves. I know some really hated this movie but I do seriously wonder if this was because of the female cast...not for any other reason. Why? Because the movie is very well written, tense, intelligent and well acted....and yet in reading through reviews I saw a lot of intensely negative comments. I saw a lot of 1s...and I seriously wonder HOW and WHY they would give such a score.

The bottom line is that this movie IS entertaining and fun. Ignore the trolls out there and give this one a try.

Really liked the 1960 'Ocean's 11' film and the first film in the original 'Ocean's' trilogy just as much, could find little fault with either. Was not crazy about 'Ocean's 12' while not hating it and cared even less for 'Ocean's 13', my opinion of course and one not many probably will share.

Will admit to be both intrigued and nervous hearing that there would be an 'Ocean's' film featuring an all-female lead cast. Thought to myself, why not have more emphasis on women, when it gives more of a focus on female characters and with potential to make them more interesting than they were in the trilogy (hope that has not come out the wrong way)? What made me nervous was whether doing this would turn out to fare the same as the awful 'Ghostbusters' reboot/remake, a failure of a film on its own terms that did nothing with what it tried to do, absolutely nothing to do with not accepting change or not wanting women in lead roles when there are so many strong and iconic female lead characters (speaking as a woman myself).

Actually saw 'Ocean's Eight' a few weeks ago but it took a while for me to get round to reviewing it with so many commitments and being behind on watching and reviewing films/television. It also took me a while trying to figure out what my thoughts were, having been conflicted and mixed leaving the cinema, and how to sum up my critiques. While still finding things to like, a large part of me was disappointed and found a lot wrong with it. 'Ocean's Eight' is not an awful film but it is not a good one either and should have been a good one considering what it had going for it.

Let's start with the good things. 'Ocean's Eight' does look great, it has a very sleek, glitzy and expensive look. Showing in the photography and especially the gorgeous costumes and gala setting. Some of the music is pleasant to listen to and there are small fleeting moments of wit and unforced charm. The heist climax is where the film most comes to life narratively, it is suspenseful, slickly executed and fun to watch.

The cast, or at least most of them, also fare well. The standout was Anne Hathaway who had charm and hilarious comic timing and the super-cool Cate Blanchett. Awkwarfina was also a delight and it was refreshing to see Helena Bonham Carter bringing a sweeter side to her usual ditzy oddball persona. Sandra Bullock has an admirable steely edge and James Corden does shine in his relatively limited screen time.

However, not all the cast fare well. Particularly the hopelessly out of her depth Rihanna and a bland Richard Armitage in a role that was a plot device. Mindy Kaling and Sarah Paulson don't make much impression in underwritten roles. It was the way the characters were written that was one of the big problems, liked the diversity but none of the characters are developed fully to make them properly likeable or interesting, generally coming over as shallow. There are moments of charm in the chemistry but that was bland too generally.

Much of 'Ocean's Eight' is dull in pace, taking too long to get started and with too little story to sustain the length, only in the climax and the lead up to it (so three quarters of the way through) does it start coming to life. The film attempted, or at least it came over this way to me, to disguise this problem by padding it out with scenes going on for too long and a lot of talk that sometimes feels verbose and going round in circles. There is not enough suspense or surprises to thrill and there is not enough sass, spark, wit or snap to be properly funny. The direction is never more than workmanlike and fails to have much distinction. The references and connections to the previous films felt thrown in and are nowhere near explored enough and the ending is far too abrupt and petering out too early-like.

In conclusion, looks expensive with a great climax and the cast generally do impress but very lacking in soul, energy, thrills, surprises and distinction. It all felt too safe and that the execution was side-lined in favour of the all female lead concept. 4/10 Bethany Cox