A self-indulgent sequel that jumped over the shark and broke its own universe in the process pays off its debts with interest on streaming

Making a sequel to one of the greatest remakes of all-time was no easy task, never mind the fact Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Eleven also happened to be a top-tier heist caper, a critical darling, and a box office bonanza in its own right. Getting the band back together was inevitable, but Ocean’s Twelve decided the best course of action was to disappear right up its own behind.

The opening installment deftly toed the line between undimmed star power, light and breezy entertainment, and an engaging narrative bolstered by an endless supply of charisma, but the self-indulgent call to have Julia Roberts playing Tess Ocean disguising herself as Julia Roberts to infiltrate an event where Bruce Willis was in attendance broke the Ocean’s universe in two.

Not to get too nitpicky about it, but seeing as the likes of Topher Grace, Joshua Jackson, and Shane West made cameos as themselves in Eleven‘s opening scene, it can be inferred that Brad Pitt’s Rusty exists in a world where these celebrities star in the movies and TV shows they do in our own reality. And yet, Roberts’ shattering of the fourth wall is enough to make your head spin.

After all, Roberts co-starred with Pitt in The Mexican, appeared in Mystic Pizza alongside fellow Ocean’s alum Matt Damon, and lent support with Elliot Gould in The Player to name but a trio, all three of whom play fictional figures in the Ocean’s universe. Do they all have A-list doppelgangers? Is it an alternate reality where certain stars and projects exits but other don’t? Nobody knows, and Soderbergh and the crew didn’t really seem to care.

Either way, the ship was righted somewhat by the time Thirteen and Eight came along, but Twelve is inexplicably the one that’s been tearing it up on streaming after FlixPatrol named it as one of the top-viewed features on iTunes and Google Play this week.