Name: Retro Film Review: Out of Sight (1998)
Item: Out of Sight
Rating: 70
Author: @drax

(source:tmdb.org)

Elmore Leonard is hardly among the best American writers today, but his novels are nevertheless extremely popular in Hollywood. Leonard's strange plots and quirky characters looked like a godsend to major studios in their eternal search for new and original screenplays. In mid 1990s there were quite a few prestigious adaptations of Leonard's novels, almost all directed by respected Hollywood film-makers. One of those adaptations was Out of Sight, 1998 crime comedy directed by Steven Soderbergh.

Protagonist of the film is Jack Foley (played by George Clooney), man who earns his living by robbing banks. While his impressive record of 200 robberies suggest great bank robbing skill Foley is less successful in avoiding capture. His latest arrest would lead to 30 year sentence, but Foley begins to spend his Florida prison days knowing that his trusted friend Buddy Bragg (played by Ving Rhames) is out there to prepare the escape. On the very day of escape the prison is visited by Karen Sisco (played by Jennifer Lopez), US Marshall whose career suffered because of her habit to fall in love with various criminals. Her presence complicates Foley's plans but he quickly overpowers her and spends long time being locked with her in the trunk of a car. Two of them, despite being on the opposite sides of the law, can't deny the attraction they feel towards each other. After they part their ways, Foley and Bragg head to Detroit where they plan to rob the house of Rob Ripley (played by Albert Brooks), crooked tycoon and former convict who had told them about hidden diamonds. Their activity is monitored by "Snoopy" Miller (played by Don Cheadle), psychopathic gangster who wants the diamonds for himself. In the meantime, Sisco seems determined to bring Foley back behind bars, although she is unable to deny other motives for her pursuit.

Out of Sight features one of the more preposterous yet so familiar plots of 1990s Hollywood - charming criminal with the heart of gold getting hooked up with the tough law-woman on his trail. In hands of an inexperienced or uninspired director this material would undoubtedly turn into bad film (just as it happened with some of Elmore Leonard adaptations in the past). Thankfully, Steven Soderbergh was very experienced and very inspired while making this film. Soderbergh, as a director with "artsy" reputation and prestigious festival awards in his resume, managed to make Out of Sight at least look different from mainstream Hollywood films. Soderbergh uses non-linear narrative structure and guides audience through complicated plot and unusual characters while the clever use of cinematography creates atmosphere in which even the most preposterous plot twists look believable.

But the greatest asset of this film is in the cast. Soderbergh knows how to use those assets and he found the perfect combination in paring of George Clooney with Jennifer Lopez. Those two aren't just good-looking - they have great chemistry and audience can easily accept two of them falling in love with each other. In this film it is easy to accept Clooney as career criminal, just as it is easy to accept Lopez as tough law enforcer. Their stellar presence is, however, almost shadowed by small army of dependable character actors who convincingly portray Leonard's unusual characters. Out of Sight is great film to look at and at times very funny, but it is also far from perfect. Soderbergh didn't resist the temptation to make this film "cooler" than it should have been. Some of his directing choices are unnecessarily "hip", while the last scene is too much of a concession towards Tarantino-worshipping crowd. However, Out of Sight is surprisingly good film that won't stay out of viewer's minds.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.films.reviews on June 23rd 2004)