Out of Sight

Year: 1998
Running time: 123 minutes
Certificate: 15
Language: English
Screenplay: Scott Frank
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Starring: George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez, Ving Rhames, Don Cheadle, Denis Farina, Steve Zahn

Clooney & Lopez: Chemistry by the bucketload.

How do you make the coolest film ever? Having Steven Soderburgh direct George Clooney in an adaptation of an Elmore Leonard novel would get you off to a fine start. The stylistic trappings of Out of Sight would later be refined by Soderburgh and Clooney into the hugely successful Ocean’s Eleven remake, but here it feels a little more adult. Clooney’s bungling but somehow still effortlessly cool bank robber Jack Foley manages to retain his charm even when frightening innocent tellers. As Foley lands himself in prison yet again, we are introduced to a range of great supporting players, from Don Cheadle’s psychotic self-styled gangster thief Maurice Miller and Foley's partner in crime Buddy Bragg (Ving Rhames), who has to call his sister to absolve his guilt prior to every job, to Steve Zahn's frightened henchman Glenn Michaels, who finds himself way out of his depth when caught up with Miller and his gang. The big draw however, comes in the surprising shape of Jennifer Lopez, as Karen Sisco, the FBI agent who crosses paths with Clooney as he’s making his escape.

It’s the electrifying chemistry between Clooney and Lopez that makes Out of Sight so special to watch. Clooney is frequently as brilliant as he is in this but Lopez has never since been able to scale such heights. Their first scene together in the boot of a car has got to be one of the sexiest meet-cutes in cinema. Better still is a later scene that leads up to the two leads sharing a bed. Sitting alone at a table in a bar, Sisco is approached by one cocky businessman after another and shoots each one down in flames. Foley walks up and asks if she’d like a drink. “I’d love one” she responds immediately and genuinely. The ensuing conversation is inter-cut with brief glimpses of the two of them in bed in an example of truly outstanding editing. It’s a style that feels Soderberghian in tone and is one of those scenes that are the reasons why I love cinema as much as I do.

Jack Foley: Not exactly hard on the eyes.

The complex plot is told with the liberal use of flashbacks and develops into a race to a job between Foley and Miller. Climaxing in a diamond heist at a private residence, Sisco is forced to choose between her feelings and her job in an impressively staged set piece that has equal amounts of tension (the potential rape of the maid of the house makes the scene feel potentially dangerous and leaves a slightly sour taste to the proceedings) and comedy (the moment when a clumsy henchman trips, lands on his gun and blows his brains out causes an involuntary burst of shocked laughter to erupt from the viewer).

Light, fun and as long as it isn't taken too seriously, this is a great watch.

Score: 8/10

This review by the Ace Black Blog has a very different point of view, but Denise at the BBC has a take on it more like mine.