Out of Sight (1998, R)

Directed by Steven Soderburgh (Sex, Lies, and Videotape)

Written by Scott Frank (Get Shorty)

Starring George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez, Dennis Farina, and Ving Rhames

As Reviewed by James Brundage

This would be a movie for thanksgiving, because, after seeing Steven Soderburgh’s Elmore Leonard adaptation Out of Sight, I’m read to give thanks. I’d like to give thanks that Hollywood is still capable of turning out a decent character, even if it is based on a book. I’d like to give thanks that George Clooney finally lifted his eyes off the ground and looked into the camera for once. And I’d really like to give thanks that I saw Out of Sight, which has more fun than I’ve gotten from a film since December.

Out of Sight, a movie that I planned to see in theatres but just got around to, is one of the funniest crime films I’ve ever seen, hilarious to the same point as Get Shorty (another Elmore Leonard adaptation by Scott Frank). It’ s out of control yet well-plotted, overtly quick yet well paced. It mixes and matches story with sentimentality, which, as anyone who hears my daily gripe about cinema knows, is a rare thing.

The plot of Out of Sight is as wacky as Get Shorty: The worlds most prolific bank robber Jack Foley (Clooney) escapes from a Florida prison, kidnapping a Federal Marshall, Karen (Lopez), while he’s at it. Hiding in the back truck on Karen’s car while a friend (Ving Rhames) drives them to a second car, they talk about … movies? An immediate romantic connection is formed, and we are given a window into a very unique love story. One half of Clooney is planning his big score, another half trying to seduce Lopez while not being arrested by her.

Although not as complex of a story as Get Shorty was, the tale of Jack Foley is equally unique and satiric. Each Elmore Leonard adaptation seems both vastly different and interestingly the same. All of them have criminals as the main characters, all of them have one person so ahead of the game that you have to try to catch up, yet each of them features a different satiric target. Get Shorty picked on Hollywood. Touch took on organized religion. Jackie Brown (based on “Rum Punch”) made fun of the entire game of cops-and-robbers by being two steps ahead. Out of Sight takes on your basic romance story with a great twist.

It opens with one of the smartest bank robberies in cinema history: Jack walks into a bank, no gun, no weapon, smiles at the teller and informs her that a partner ahs a gun and is ready to shoot her boss in between the eyes if she doesn’t cooperate. Of course, it’s all a bluff, but Jack charms his way through a bank robbery unarmed… only to have it all screwed up when the car won’t start.

As I said, I am very thankful that George Clooney didn’t blunder over himself by looking at the ground. It would have ruined the entire movie if he acted bashful, which he seems to do without trying, but the man pulls off a decent performance. I’m not saying he should get any awards, but it’s a lot better than he normally does. Jennifer Lopez does likewise, not acting as helpless as she normally does. Instead, she gives Karen a unique charm about her.

Steven Soderburgh, who first burst onto the scene nine years ago with Sex, Lies, and Videotape, which really started the second independent revolution going and jump-started the Sundance film festival, takes the helm of the studio project that, with Hollywood as it is today, might have ended up a formula piece were it not for his unique touch. He does a masterful job of editing his film, taking the sex scene and having a conversation intercut and voice-overed. Although, unlike Get Shorty and Jackie Brown, which had a flair towards the stedicam and thus towards movement of the camera in general, you don’t get much in the way of that. The most you’ll get besides the cuts are the occasional pan. But, hey, Soderburgh pulled his masterpiece Sex, Lies, and Videotape off hardly moving the camera at all.

In the end Out of Sight is a pleasing movie on all levels. Soderburgh makes it eye candy, writer Scott Frank makes it ear candy, and Lopez and Clooney make it a plain delight to view. Definitely worth renting, and, if any serious competition would come to the Scott B. Smith monopoly on the Best Adapted Screenplay, this would be it.