“Ocean’s 8” Review: Women Doing Crimes And (Probably) Each Other

On Thursday night, I sat down for a showing of Ocean’s 8. By then, I had been tweeting about this movie for nearly two years. It had been on my mind for countless hours. By then, I also already knew that there was, tragically, not going to be a lesbian sex scene between Cate Blanchett’s Lou and Sandra Bullock’s Debbie in the movie. Which means I will be taking legal action. Does anyone know any hot lawyers with hair falling in perfect messy waves like Debbie Ocean’s when she’s first released from prison? Lmk.

E. Alex Jung at Vulture already wrote the Ocean’s 8 article I thought I was going to write heading into the movie: a lesbian power ranking of all of the characters and breakdown of why they all are, indeed, lesbians. You should read it! It’s very good and includes scripture like this: “While Ocean’s 8 is technically a heist movie, it is actually a movie about how men are boring and peripheral and women are fun and should have sex with each other.” Hear, hear!

I have now seen Ocean’s 8 twice, and here’s what I saw just beneath the surface both times:

  • Lou is a motorcycle-riding, vest-with-no-undershirt-wearing, low ponytailed lesbian, and she and Debbie most definitely used to date and/or fuck. There are several ambiguous lines that hint at such: “Lou and I were going through a rough patch,” Debbie explains when Tammy (Sarah Paulson) asks her how she ended up dating the pukey ex-boyfriend who put her in prison. Maybe she’s talking about their cons? Counterpoint: Maybe not! “This is exactly like last time,” Lou says with all the exasperation of a hurt ex-girlfriend. I mean, when Lou and Debbie are first reunited, Debbie does call her her partner. They also call each other “honey” and “baby” while at a diner just seconds before Debbie feeds Lou a forkful of food!
  • Lou and Nine Ball (Rihanna) definitely start fucking shortly after meeting. I mean, Lou cooks a meal topped with hot sauce for her mid-heist.

  • Debbie and Tammy also had a thing in the past. That much is obvious from the look on Tammy’s face when she sees Debbie’s name pop up on her caller ID and when she subsequently shout-whispers “I’m with my family” after answering. Their used-to-bang vibe in the garage is scintillating. Even the way Debbie says “what do you tell your husband” seems pointed.

If you’ve already seen the movie and are now here on Autostraddle dot com, you probably saw all of the above, too. If you haven’t seen the movie yet and are now here on Autostraddle dot com inevitably wondering whomst of the 8 are gay, the answer is… it’s complicated? I can guarantee you will see everything I’ve outlined above, because none of this subtext is particularly hard to extract! Sure, I know that there are probably a good amount of straight people who will walk out of that movie without pausing to consider that Lou and Nine Ball were probably banging mid-heist, but that’s because straight people are not okay and have very limited imaginations.

The subtext is very there — so there that it’s hard to wrap my mind around why they didn’t just simply go there. It would have been so easy! Making it a little more explicitly gay wouldn’t have radically altered the movie at all! It only would have made it even better!

Because Ocean’s 8 is already a very, very good movie. There’s almost no conflict, and that’s refreshing. Why force conflict when you can just show women working together really well and having a lot of fun while doing it? It delivers all the style and thrills of a heist movie but also just feels like a bunch of women hanging out, doing crimes, bonding, and being really good at their jobs. Daphne joins the crew literally because she wants more female friends. (Anne Hathaway, it should be noted, has the standout performance of the movie.)

Ocean’s 8 exudes sex without any actual sex. The fashion and soundtrack are out-of-this-world. A Rihanna dress reveal had the entire theater gasp-screaming both times I saw it. There’s just something instantly seductive about watching Debbie Ocean masterfully commit crimes big and small. And that really is the only point of the movie — that these women are super good at crimes! Iconic!

So yeah, it’s a very good movie! Go see it if you haven’t! But be warned: There are no explicit references to any of the women dating or fucking each other. There’s a lot of eye contact and flirting amongst the 8 but, regrettably, no kissing. And I feel really conflicted by it! The film’s marketing campaign didn’t explicitly queerbait in the way, say, Pitch Perfect 3 did. I just assumed it would be super gay because of, like, the radioactive lesbian energy emanating from Cate Blanchett in all set photos ahead of the release.

The sexual tension between Lou and Debbie — and between Debbie and Tammy in that garage scene — is admittedly intoxicating even if it never becomes something more. And the movie does seem to take place in some sort of lesbian crime utopia where men are mere targets and tools. But in Ocean’s 9, let’s see their gayness shine all over the screen like a six-pound diamond necklace, mkay?

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Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya

Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya is the managing editor of Autostraddle and a lesbian writer of essays, short stories, and pop culture criticism living in Orlando. She is the assistant managing editor of TriQuarterly, and her short stories appear or are forthcoming in McSweeney's Quarterly Concern, Joyland, Catapult, The Offing, and more. Some of her pop culture writing can be found at The A.V. Club, Vulture, The Cut, and others. You can follow her on Twitter or Instagram and learn more about her work on her website.

Kayla has written 791 articles for us.

54 Comments

  1. my moviegoing compatriots can vouch for the soft gay noises i could not suppress throughout this film, mostly any time anyone was on screen, or wearing something, or making eye contact with anyone else.

    here’s the thing, though… yes i came home and immediately started looking for fanfic, but, like… there’s not much yet i guess? are we working to remedy this problem? anybody already writing/have any recs?

  2. can anyone explain why it is ocean’s 8 instead of 7? or is Anne Hathaway in on it? So confused.

  3. Helena rhapsodizing in French about the jewels around Anne’s neck “..nichés dans ses nichons” (nestled in her breasts) was a personal highlight.

  4. I feel like Cate Blanchett in this whole movie was a personal attack. I sighed very loudly when she first showed up.

    Also, there’s a short fic about Daphne being in both Lou’s/Debbie celebrity list and I have to say I’m very glad for fan fictions existence and I need more ( link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14890992)

  5. Cate Blanchett’s suits really were amazing. Her whole vibe was soooooo gay, it was excellent :)

  6. My girlfriend pointed it out to me during the movie, there’s a rainbow sticker, laying on the desk between them at one point in the movie

    A fucking rainbow sticker, they knew exactly what they were doing,

  7. Saw this yesterday and thought it was really fun and enjoyable! But, one question… why does Sarah Paulson’s character open a warehouse in the end? That’s her dream? What? I know she had a bunch of stolen stuff hidden (warehouse-like) in her garage, but I thought that was more a byproduct of her compulsion to steal, not because she had some kind of storage fetish.

    • Hmmm I kinda thought that she was running her warehouse theft scam on like a massive level at the end…even though she certainly doesn’t need the money, I think she’s like Debbie and just like can’t resist a life of crime (which is PROBABLY what DREW THEM TO EACH OTHER when they USED TO DATE)

    • I thought she got a warehouse to store all the stuff she steals so now she doesn’t have to lie to the husband. He just never sees the stuff

      • Conveniently also keeps him from knowing when Debbie or Lou come ‘round for a “visit”.

  8. Lou is gay. Like, it’s pretty clear. Good.
    That being said, I liked the movie but I didn’t love it and I wanted to love it.
    I think theywere just too good, everything was so easy for them. Even when difficulties arose they solved it quick and easy without breaking a sweat, like in the case of the magnet and also the scanning of the necklace. I wish they had to work a little harder. Maybe if there was a villain, there wasn’t an antagonist, really. That ex boyfriend doesn’t really qualify…
    But I liked that it was all about the ladies and no one was fighting over a man or anything.
    Also I didn’t know Sandra Bullock is half German and speaks it fluently.

    • I’ve heard a few people say that it was too easy, but honestly, in today’s reality of one horrible news story after another, it was such a relief to watch a steady stream of win. It was a relief to not have any infighting or back-stabbing amongst the eight. Even the surprise extra loot gets shared with the whole group, even though only some of them knew about it. That’s women working together and supporting each other to kick ass. Yes, please.

      • Yeah, Maybe if there was a clear villain that they could be it wouldn’t feel that way, I don’t know.

    • Yeah, I said the same thing after I saw it today. Andy Garcia in Ocean’s Eleven is a great villain because you get to know him just as well as the protagonists and based on what we learn about him, we really want him to lose. Richard Armitage is just some crappy guy who barely registers as a character in this movie so it’s harder to root for the women in this movie than it was to root for the men in Ocean’s 11. Which just doesn’t even compute in my head that I had a harder time rooting for women than men.

      The cast was great, but I just don’t think the screenplay was as tight as the original (er, second original?) and Gary Ross just isn’t as stylish a director as Steven Soderbergh. But I still enjoyed it. I just hope if they make a sequel, the stakes feel a little higher and the characters have more interesting interactions.

  9. Does anyone know any hot lawyers with hair falling in perfect messy waves like Debbie Ocean’s when she’s first released from prison? Lmk.

    – Jane Ramos from Jane the Virgin
    – Nelle Porter from Ally McBeal
    – Miranda from Sex and the City (not so wavy but occasionaly messy hair)
    – Alexandra Chabot from SVU
    – Kate Reed from Fairly Legal
    (these are just the gay/played gay/could be gay ones I could think of, there must be so many more. Sorry I don’t know any real lawyers)

  10. I just feel like…I’m not sure who the writer at Vulture is, but Autostraddle would have done that article better :/ I want MORE description! Can we talk about Helena Bonham Carter’s amazing #frumpyfemme aesthetic? Awkwafina’s long-haired butch vibes? Rihanna deserved so much more. Ugh the subtext in this movie was everything!

  11. To those of you who didn’t like Carol and are sick of hearing about Carol and are rolling your eyes at the thought of reading one more word about Carol… sorry, not sorry… I’m making this about Carol!

    It would be interesting to know some of what went on during development of this film. I have a suspicion that the worldwide outpouring of lesbian love Cate Blanchett received following Carol’s release may have impacted Lou’s character development. Perhaps it was already there when she was handed the script; on the other hand…

    According to imdb, Ocean’s 8 filming took place Oct. 2016 – March 2017 while the Carol aftershocks were still rocking our world. Cate Blanchett has gone on record saying she has been approached “in the grocery store” by more fans about Carol than any other film she’s made.

    Maybe C8 realized a sure-fire way to parlay at the box office would be to give the gays more of what they want — hence the legs-open-sittin’, motorcycle-ridin’, skinny-necktie-and-bomber-jacket-wearin’ Lou Miller was born. Just a hump, er hunch.

    It certainly worked on me. I went twice this weekend, both for the Carol-Abby reunion and the Sandy Lou Who possibilities.

    For my fellow Carolheads…

    • So what you’re saying is that the character of Lou was flung out of space?

      • Yup. Flung out of space… and upon landing (on her booted feet), she strutted over in her shiny leather pants and lifted one long leg and then sat astride my lap just like she mounted that big, ol’ Triumph, and stuck her less-than-Anne-Hathaway-but-more-than-enough boobs in my face — smacking her gum and wearing a shit-eating grin the whole time. Yes, Priscila T, this was a calculated and deliberate attack perpetrated by Cate Blanchett to devastating effect.

        Me: waving a white flag in one hand and a rainbow flag in the other while rushing off to see if I can make it to tonight’s 7:30 showing of Ocean’s 8

          • Killing you in the LOL way, I hope. If so, thank you. If you mean it’s literally killing you, I do apologize; that was never my intent. ;)

    • If it was any other (less famous) actor/actress I may agree with you here. And although Cate Blanchett might be aware of the effect she can have on a certain demographic (looking at everyone in the room), I don’t think she needs to “over-gay” her characters to sell them to us.
      But, even if she does, can you really blame her for GIVING US WHAT WE WANT.

  12. This movie was soooooo gay haha!
    I was kind of hoping on that last scene,Tess Ocean would appear and answer Debbie with “Yes, he would’ve love it” …. Just throwing it out there.

    • Just saw it and that last scene was fake news, the movie actually ended with Lou opening the door onto Debbie making cocktails for their own personal happy hour, motorcycle helmet in hand.

  13. Sandra Bullock’s back while she walks away during the gala rivals Cate Blanchett’s during the Carol sex scene, which we all know was the best part of that movie.

    Like, the rest of the movie was great, but when I see a Blanchett movie, I want to see the goods (i.e, her back). It remained unfortunately clothed throughout. But Sandy B’s! Wow!

    • Not to mentioned that they wasted at least 40% of the best face on the planet for some scruffy bangs. WHY?

  14. So many laugh out loud moments in this article! Unfortunately Ocean’s 8 isn’t out here in the UK until next week and I can’t wait to see it. I’m a little annoyed they didn’t make anything explicitly gay but also I kind of expected as much? Let’s hope if they get a sequel they’ll do it then

  15. One of my fave things about this movie is that you see them eating actual food like ACTUAL humans multiple times throughout the film.

    • This is one of my favorite tropes in a movie/TV show! When they put emphasis on being believable for the completely mundane stuff. It’s not always food, but often.

      This happened in Ghostbusters (2017) too. “It’s lunchtime, we shall now eat lunch, possibly in the presence of Kate McKinnon playing with a soldering gun…blessed be we.” Which really helps pull you in. Never once have the women I know in real life had a rom-com discussion/Bechdel test fail about what kind of salad they’re eating!

      I think it’s a side effect of a critical mass of female talent in front of and behind the camera. I also recall seeing scenes with normal food in them for various female-first, female-produced shows on SyFy (Lost Girl, Wynonna Earp).

  16. I said, out loud, en route to the theater, “if none of these women are lesbians I will riot.” The only thing that saves me is Lou is most assuredly a lesbian.

    Side note, Cate Blanchette is the sexiest most incredible creature and it brings me actual pain to behold her. She pokes my heart, is what I’m saying.

    • Lou Is morally, ethically
      Spiritually, physically
      Positively, absolutely
      Undeniably and reliably a lesbian

      • Well said, Mayor. She casts a spell as well and we are bewitched, bothered and bewildered by her ability to make us wet and melt us. I hereby nominate her as president of the guild because she is known for her generosity and she just might let us lick her lollipop.

        Oh, Carmen, look what you’ve started!

  17. I didn’t really think that they would’ve made anyone gay in this movie cause it’s only existence is like a victory in itself, to put a gay character would be taking a much higher risk than the one they were already taking while making this film.
    I didn’t watch it yet but I think that Cate’s choice to play Lou this gay was on purpose… maybe to hinch us something? Or to prepare us for some revelation on the next movie (yes, I’m an optimistic!)? I don’t know… she seems pretty open to take this road if they give her green light to do it.

  18. I have never seen any of the Ocean’s *insert numerical digit here* movies, and I legitimately thought they took place on a cruise liner until my girlfriend explained that the title was not literal.

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