Jared's Pick - Movie Reviews: Out of Sight

Out of Sight

Believe me, I'm just as sick of George Clooney as you are. He didn't win me as a fan with his trick of bobbing his head and giving Michelle Pfeiffer the doe-eyes trick in the tepid One Fine Day, so I expected little more from Out of Sight. They're billing this as the sexiest thriller this summer, and while that may be true, it says more about this season's dearth of decent on-screen sex than any particular virtue of this film. Still, Clooney does better than expected as Jack Foley, the compulsive bank robber - and besides, the fabulously seductive Jennifer Lopez has enough heat for both of them.

Out of Sight is the latest in a string of Elmore Leonard novels to be brought to the megaplex, all of which have been better than average movies based on the wit and characterization of the screenplay alone (Get Shorty and Jackie Brown are the standouts.) For the most part, the characters behave as rational human beings rather than plot devices, and the dialogue in particular has a refreshing ring of truth.

Clooney and and Lopez are credible in an otherwise slightly incredible situation - Lopez is Karen Sisco, an FBI agent who is hampered in her attempts to track down Jack by the sexual chemistry between them. In Foley's prison break, he hides in a trunk with his hostage (tough luck for him, picking an armed Fed), and the two begin to sense an attraction during the ride.

The movie revolves around their developing relationship, while simultaneously following Jack as he attempts the standard "final heist" that will allow him to retire. The cast is peppered with colorful and well-fleshed-out characters. Jack's sidekick Buddy (Ving Rhames in a solidly supporting role) is tough and tender, Albert Brooks is excellent as the millionaire whose diamonds Jack wants, and Don Cheadle is believably psychotic as Snoopy, another criminal along for the ride. Steve Zahn (the guy who threw himself into a road sign in SubUrbia) is hilarious as the weak willed stoner Glenn, and there are a number of surprise celebrity cameos that I won't spoil.

Director Steven Soderbergh uses flashback effectively as a way to keep the audience guessing - perhaps a bit too much, as I found my attention frustratingly challenged during the first third of the movie trying to get the plot straight. He also has an irritating habit of using freeze-frame editing to highlight supposedly emotional moments, but on the whole kept me interested.

So. Decent plot, good characters, witty dialogue and relatively strong chemistry between the two leads, and yet…Out of Sight left me a little cool. Thumbs up for the reasonably intelligent script and well-acted roles, but on the whole the film lacked the spark of genuine thrills and sexual heat that could have made this an unqualified winner. You could do a lot worse than Out of Sight, but you wouldn't miss much just renting it, either.

- Jared O'Connor

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