Out of Sight (1998) Directed by Steven Soderbergh. Starring George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez, and Ving Rhames. The 90’s was a pretty amazing decade when it came to film. There’s plenty of praise out their for the art house meets mainstream films of Quentin Tarantino and the Coen brothers from the decade, but this Soderbergh effort is deserving of much more recognition than it gets. Clooney plays escaped felon Jack Foley who kidnaps US Marshall Karen Sisco during his getaway, but they quickly find themselves drawn to each other. As Foley evades arrest while going for his last score and Sisco attempts to track him down their judgment is clouded by their connection. Without further ado, here are my 5 Favorite Things about Out of Sight:
5. Stylistic Editing: This film makes great use of editing with its nonlinear storyline. It’s not quite as cut up into chunks out of order like Pulp Fiction, but starts the story in a scene that grabs you and jumps around to parts of the timeline of the story to give you more information about characters’ motivations. There’s also stylistic flourishes such as freeze frames throughout the film at the close of scenes to accentuate a line of dialogue or specific moment. Towards the end of the film the editing becomes more straightforward just in time for the finale, an intentional move that makes it all the more effective.
4. The Elmore Leonard factor: There’s a reason so many of Leonard’s novels have been adapted to film – his stories are gripping and original. Trying to place the name? His novels include Get Shorty and Rum Punch (which became Jackie Brown), the short story Three-Ten to Yuma, and the character used in several works that have become the show Justified. This story is no different- it’s a smart story bolstered by witty dialogue and nuanced characters that shine on screen. Just look to the car truck scene where Clooney and Lopez discuss classic films and instantly connect over a conversation that becomes more poignant the farther you get into the movie.
3. The superb supporting players: This thing deserves a list honestly. There’s Ving Rhames as Jack Foley’s literal partner in crime who is trying to be as moral as he can despite his profession. Don Cheadle as a wannabe/possible badass fellow inmate who is after the same heist Foley is attempting. Steve Zahn is of course the slightly goofy criminal who bounces between Foley and Maurice Miller (Cheadle) just trying to stay on the side of whoever is going to get him in on the big score. Albert Brooks plays Ripley, the wealthy white collar inmate who everyone is hot to rip off after he bragged about a stash of diamonds he kept in his house. There’s even a bit parts played by Samuel L. Jackson, Catherine Keener, Viola Davis, and Michael Keaton (playing a crossover character, federal agent Ray Nicolette from Jackie Brown). There’s so much talent in this film it’s kind of insane.
2. Steven Soderbergh’s fantastic direction: Soderbergh was coming off of a several film long stint of super artsy, low budget films. This was his first mainstream film, and considering it was followed up by Erin Brockovich, Traffic, and the Oceans series I’d say it was a strong start. Soderbergh’s directorial style elevates Out of Sight from a standard crime genre film. He is able to pull fantastic performances out of the entire cast, but especially out of the two leads. Jennifer Lopez isn’t the most highly regarded actress, but you wouldn’t know that from this role. She completely owns it and is simultaneously the sexy romantic interest and the tough as nails US Marshall with enough nuance to not be cliché. This was also one of the first of Clooney’s roles that showcased his charismatic talent on screen after some more basic roles in the early 90’s. Soderbergh’s ability to bring the best out of his actors along with his artistic vision takes this story to a new level.
1. It is just so freaking sexy: Sure, plenty of films have sexy scenes, characters, or dialogue mixed in, but rarely does a film drip with sexiness like Out of Sight. Of course this has everything to do with George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez’s showstopping chemistry. The film has a romantic sense to it of course but when it comes down to it, it’s about two people that really, really want to have sex. The scene at the film’s climax (and yes, that is totally a double entendre) is so incredibly hot, from the two very attractive leads to the color tone, the dialogue, music–even the editing! That scene is the height of the sexiness, but it really just permeates through the entire film in a way that I’ve never really seen another film succeed at.
What are some of your favorite things about Out of Sight?