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Ocean’s Eight triumphantly defies the notions that a cast of women cannot capture audiences and that a group of women cannot be comrades. Carrying on the legacy of Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Trilogy, Gary Ross’ Ocean’s Eight is engaging and entertaining throughout. Despite concerns that the all-star cast, led by Sandra Bullock and Cate Blanchett, was an indicator of “name over quality”, the film excelled.

Sandra Bullock and Cate Blanchett have delightful and endearing on-screen chemistry is , and Helena Bonham Carter’s Irish accent is far better than expected. There are no dull moments; each scene is carefully weighted to deliver plot, character and emotion. Just as the plot threatens to become anticlimactic, a few last-minute twists reshape its course to create a satisfactory ending to a truly enjoyable film.

Ocean’s Eight doesn’t delve in to any immediately obvious feminist discourse despite its woman-led cast, so I could see the film being lauded for being “not too feminist” for general consumption. After all, it seems common among some critics and film-watchers alike to condemn a film for being “too much” of anything politically gritty. For instance, Love Simon received countless rave reviews and took in $11 million, despite being written off by others as “too gay” and not appealing to a general audience.

On the other hand, Ocean’s Eight, despite its cast of eight leading ladies, doesn’t come with any overt messages about women’s empowerment. On the surface, it’s just an engaging heist film about newly-paroled Debbie Ocean’s (Sandra Bullock) plan to steal priceless diamonds at the Met Gala with a team that is composed solely of women. For some, that all-woman cast will already be a step too far over the line of acceptability (remember Ghostbusters’ chilly reception?) but because the film does not have an outright, explicitly feminist message, others might commend it and elevate it above other films which are deemed “too feminist.” This kind of rhetoric silences powerful political work just as effectively as outright condemnation, and certainly misses the mark.

Ocean’s Eight is an entertaining, gripping, lighthearted film which also calls upon the audience to examine their attitudes towards women in film, albeit subtly. Seemingly throwaway lines have deeper undertones, such as when Debbie is asked why her team is composed only of women, she replies: “A man gets seen, a woman gets ignored.” Contextually, she means that the women will blend in easily at the Met Gala, but it doesn’t take a great deal of insight to read between the lines: women are underrepresented and underestimated in film – and life – in comparison to men (with added layers of meta given Hollywood’s real-life prominence at the Met Gala).

Finally, if you’re undecided on seeing the film, or just want to have a good laugh, watch this interview with Cate Blanchett and Sarah Paulson. Trust me.