After their tortuously over-extended smug-fest of a second outing you could have been forgiven for thinking that Ocean's Eleven were all washed up.

Shifting the location to Europe, the meandering plot and over-contrived twists left the nagging suspicion that Clooney, Pitt and company were getting just as self-satisfied as the Rat Pack crew - Sinatra, Dino, Sammy D etc - who starred in the 1960 original.

Third time out director Steven Soderbergh makes no such mistake. Back in Vegas, the switchbacks have been largely banished with a deliciously worked set-up the mainstay of a daft but dizzyingly entertaining heist caper.

Danny's old buddy and father figure Reuben (Gould) almost rolled a seven when corrupt and ever-so-slightly-ridiculous casino kingpin Willy Bank (Pacino) double-crossed him over a deal to build the gambling resort's biggest ever hotel complex.

Sacking architect Frank Gehry (so he could take credit for the design), Bank pressed ahead with the unsurprisingly monikered The Bank, a monumentally tacky cathedral dedicated to debt.

Ball-crushing PA Abigail Sponder (Barkin) is Bank's tough trouble-shooter while dedicated security super-computer "Greco" systematically sweeps the acres of baize searching punters' pupil dilation and pulse rates for any suggestion of a scam.

It's just the sort of challenge relished by Danny and his high-tech larcenists...but this time the odds may be against them.

This pared-back caper benefits from the simple approach - it's more dominoes than Texas Hold 'Em - and the self-regarding vanity that marred the last outing has been excised.

There's no real character development - we learn Danny's a closet Oprah fan - and there's a couple of needless sub-plots involving a diamond heist and the return of cat burglar Vincent Cassel.

However, Barkin fizzes in a terrific seduction scene with Matt Damon, armed with a false nose and a particularly virulent sexual pheromone, while Eddie Izzard slinks onscreen as a public school sting-fixer.

Implausibilities abound...two Channel Tunnel borers are introduced to the action with barely a beat being missed - but that's not really what we're here for.

This is a solid return to the gossamer-light breezines of Soderbergh's orginal caper and - for that reason alone - it's on the money.

Tim Evans