Out of Sight
Directed - Steven Soderbergh Starring - George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez, Ving Rhames, Don Cheadle, Dennis Farina, Albert Brooks Screenplay - Scott Frank, Elmore Leonard (novel) Music - David Holmes
One of the marks of postmodern film is fragmentation; style, visualization, writing direction, et cetera. Very often that spills over in the advertising for a movie and leaves surface moviegoers in for a shock (see Boogie Nights for example; the ads are like hip Brady Bunch episodes but the film is about the hardcore porn industry). Out of Sight sets itself apart with a convincing ad campaign that kept with the feel of the movie and brought to mind the French New Wave and European films of the '70s.
Steven Soderbergh - no stranger to textured European elements in cinema - takes on Elmore Leonard's novel and brings it to a cohesive whole on the screen. He blends the talent effectively; from his nod to François Truffaut's Jules and Jim by using stop-camera photography, to choosing a good writer to handle the screenplay, to coaxing good performances out of all the key players throughout.
Jack Foley (George Clooney) is a good thief. He's done time in the joint, he's street smart and always has a plan. Two years before the present story began he was in a Lompoc prison with his best friend Buddy and the hapless felon Glenn. One day Richard (Albert Brooks), a wealthy prisoner, tells Glenn that he has two million dollars in diamonds stashed in his house. At the same prison is a fighter named Snoopy (Don Cheadle) who is leaning on Richard to get some dough. Eventually they are all released and Jack, after trying to hit Richard up for a cozy job, promptly robs a bank that gets him thrown in a prison in the Everglades. Following the lead of two bumbling escapees he escapes and is met outside the prison gates by Buddy, but also there for an appointment is FBI agent Karen Sisco (Jennifer Lopez, in a trademark Leonard role of the fiesty and profane female).
They nab her and load Jack in the trunk of her car with her. He gets to know Karen pretty well in their twenty-minute ride but as their rendezvous is with Glenn, something goes foul. It seems as when Jack and Buddy were talking outside the car Karen convinces the loaded Glenn to leave with the getaway car and avoid being an accessory to a crime. Jack and Buddy scram but they later learn that Glenn has had an accident that landed Karen in the hospital. She wants to see Jack again and he certainly wants to see her.
Buddy has a problem with this though, as every time he commits a sin he calls his sister, who works for an evangelist, and confesses everything he has done to her. So Jack and Buddy head off for Richard's home in Detroit. Karen follows under the guise of the manhunt in the Everglades. It seems that Snoopy has set up a boxing rink in Detroit and has his eyes on the money as well; the naïve Glenn had given Snoopy a heads-up on the deal and shows up to do the job.
Eventually Karen and Jack hook up and have a night of passion, both too selfish to give up what they love; Karen for enforcing the law and for Jack, breaking it. The climax is set as Snoopy, his thugs, Jack, and Buddy go to Richard's house. There is no love lost between any of these men and the only trust is between Buddy and Jack. The diamonds are found but the nexus comes when Karen confronts Jack in his vice and demands his surrender. Whether you like or dislike the ending of puffery I found it a fun ride with an excellent ensemble performance.
Brian Gross http://members.xoom.com/BAG_Ltd
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