OUT OF SIGHT **** OF **** grade is A
Out of Sight is a continuation of the ever growing film adaptations of Elmore Leonard novels, and if they continue to be this good as this I will welcome an entire genre. Out of Sight is not only as good as Tarantino's film Jackie Browne it also raises the stakes aiming to be billed as a companion piece to Pulp Fiction. This is clearly one of the best films of the year.
Jack Foley (Clooney) has robbed more than 200 banks in his life and never with the use of a gun. His approach to bank robbery is as laid back as you can imagine, he finds the way to say all the right things and walk out of the bank with large sums of money. At the beginning of the film he gets arrested when his car won't start. After a prison break Foley is locked in the trunk with a feisty U.S. Marshall named Sisco (Lopez) they have a long conversation about crime, life and movies.
The story is further complicated by a large array of supporting characters who all seem to be trying to get a piece of the uncut diamonds owned by Ripley (Brooks), a wall street tycoon who Foley help survive in prison. The various character motivations are further complicated by Out of Sight's nonlinear timeline until you are not sure who will and has done what to whom and exactly when.
The film is not nearly as complicated as it may seem because it is wonderfully directed by Steven Soderbergh (who hit it big with Sex, Lies & Videotape nine years ago). Soderbergh while keeping the characters and motivations straight has a lot of fun with the look of the film. He freezes the frame at times to raise awareness and also to add a musical quality to the images. Giving the film the technical quality you might expect from the always-experimental Soderbergh.
At the core of Out of Sight is the chemistry between Clooney and Lopez, who attack their relationship with the restraint shown by Max Cherry and Jackie Browne, but also with more recklessness as their ages and personalities will allow. Soderbergh wisely chooses to keep the sex scene discrete and lays dialogue from their meeting over it. This keeps you paying attention to their wit and intelligence rather than their bodies, which are as finely shaped as the script by Scott Frank.
Both leads are quite good as Clooney comes into his own and finds a comfortable style that suggests the humor of Mel Gibson. Also very fine in this film is supporting work by Ving Rhames, Don Cheadle, Dennis Farina and Albert Brooks (who doesn't appear in enough movies). If you are tired of the parade of stupid movies fed on you go see Out of Sight, a smart and very funny film.
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