'Out of Sight' (1998)
A movie review by Walter Frith
Member of the 'Internet Movie Critics Association' http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Studio/5713/index.html
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Member of the 'Online Film Critics Society' http://smart.sbay.com/ofcs/
When was the last time you were stuck in a traffic jam? Waiting and waiting and waiting to get somewhere you REALLY want to be, only to be held up and when you finally reach your destination, you discover that it definitely wasn't worth the wait. That's exactly the feeling generated by 'Out of Sight' from director Steven Soderbergh whose most well known film credits include 1989's 'Sex, Lies, and Videotape' and 1991's 'Kafka'. 'Out of Sight' is also based on the novel by Elmore Leonard whose other works have been turned into movies recently with last year's 'Jackie Brown', based on Leonard's novel entitled 'Rum Punch' and 1995's 'Get Shorty', based on Leonard's novel of the same name. I must confess that I haven't read the novel 'Out of Sight' but based on other reviews I've read, some critics are referring to the original story as a cult novel which explains to a certain extent why it doesn't make for a very good film. Cult areas of arts and literature either find an audience or they don't. You either love it or you hate it. There is no in between. I was completely turned off by this film which is unconvincing, meandering and has too many unnecessary characters that are disposable.
George Clooney stars as a bank robber who has hit somewhere in the neighbourhood of 200 financial institutions in his career and the film opens with him committing one of these acts after he storms out of a building across the street, upset about something, and we find out later in the film why he did what he did. He is apprehended in the parking lot by the authorities after his car won't start in a getaway attempt and we see his life in "the joint" with others who become key players in the way the story unfolds. Also introduced to the audience in the film's first few minutes is a federal marshal played rather laughably by Jennifer Lopez. Her full fledged authority as a federal marshal isn't even half as convincing as say Jodie Foster's performance in 'The Silence of the Lambs' and she only played a trainee in the FBI and I would rather have her on my side in a crisis situation rather than Lopez who looks better playing sultry and glamourous characters instead of someone who's gutsy, tough and professional as she tries to be in this film.
Clooney eventually makes his escape from prison with a certain sense of ease and is confronted by Lopez on the other side of the fence as she packs a shotgun but she's overpowered by Clooney and his friend who has come to pick him up (Ving Rhames). Lopez eventually makes her escape with one of Clooney and Rhames's accomplices, a confused and neurotic loser played by Steve Zahn who likes wearing sunglasses all the time, even at night. Clooney and Rhames hook up with two other thugs they met in prison. The other hard nosed criminals are played by the very talented Don Cheadle (who, incidentally was better in 'Boogie Nights' than Burt Reynolds was) and Isiah Washington, and their plan for a heist of monumental proportions is the film's climax.
As 'Out of Sight' progresses, the film shifts back and fourth at times, like other films in wake of the success of 'Pulp Fiction' and like many other films in history, 'Pulp Fiction' will be imitated for years to come through all mediocre attempts and this film is just the latest. Writer Scott Frank who wrote some of the best dialogue heard in the movies in the 1990's with 'Get Shorty', disappoints greatly here as he builds a foundation to his story which is shaky and under developed as many scenes go around and around in circles and don't really lead anywhere. Some of them fall flat on their face as some of the humour is limp and fine actors such as Albert Brooks and Dennis Farina are completely wasted. Soderbergh's direction of this film is bland and misses the mark as Soderbergh looks like an employee of the film's script and brings what looks like no sense of his own vision to the film's sub plots and character configurations. At least director Barry Sonnenfeld made the characters in 'Get Shorty' somewhat cartoonish and still managed to make them convincing as that film had characters you could latch onto and root for and had others you were glad to see get the metaphoric pie in the face in their just desserts. 'Out of Sight' has none of these qualities and is another wasted opportunity for George Clooney to showcase his true talent.
Clooney has yet to strike gold and has only had one truly great performance which was in 1996's 'From Dusk Till Dawn' which co-incidentally is another cult film which was doomed in its second half but Clooney remained the film's only memorable character. Giving a great performance in a great film is something he's still striving for and he hasn't found it here.
OUT OF 5 > * *
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