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Out
of Sight (1998)
Director Steven Soderbergh steps out of art-house
mode here to bring us a Elmore Leonard adaptation that
owes much to Tarantino. Still, Soderbergh makes the
film his own and adds numerous flairs and touches that
engross us. He also has an excellent cast.
The plot involves a pair of opposites who meet and
fall in love. George Clooney is the "bad guy" criminal
while Jennifer Lopez ("Selena") is a Federal Marshall.
By chance, she catches him breaking out of prison and
he kidnaps her while making his getaway with the help
of Ving Rhames. Clooney and Lopez have that old fashioned
chemistry that movie producers dream about and it is
a pure delight to watch the two together. Soderbergh
films and edits the sequence where they finally "hook
up" with panache, alternating back and forth between
their conversation prior to engaging in sex interwoven
with the actual foreplay to the act. It's masterful.
Along with the duo and the solid Rhames, who also
works well with Clooney, there's a plethora of stars
who make the film a delight. Don Cheadle, a favorite
of mine since his days on TV's "Picket Fences," is used
yet again as a criminal urban black man. Why isn't Cheadle
offered better roles? Still, he works his ass off to
make his character the warped freak that he is supposed
to be while not bringing his full darkness out into
the open until just the right moment. Dennis Farina
(who was in Leonard's "Get Shorty, the producers of
that film also producing here) plays Lopez's father.
Albert Brooks, appearing without a toupee at times,
is his steadfast neurotic self. Luis Guzman plays yet
another prison inmate, a homosexual this time. Keith
Loneker get several funny scenes capped off by a perfect
cinematic moment as a white boy criminal. Nancy Allen
plays a rape victim. And the creme of the crop, Steve
Zahn, plays a stoner wannabee criminal. Zahn, who Made
"That Thing You Do" such a treat, is simply irresistible
here. He's funny, pathetic and has a sense of pathos
you just can't find these days. It's a stand-out performance.
The film also features two marvelous uncredited cameos,
one from Samuel L. Jackson, the other, Michael Keaton.
Playing Ray Nicolette, as he did in Tarantino's adaptation
of Leonard's "Jackie Brown," Keaton makes cinematic
history here playing the same character in two films
with unrelated production histories. It's an inside
joke that works like crazy, especially since Keaton
is "that guy." No one else can ever play the role with
the right amount of dullness and bad boy arrogance as
he does. Jackson, meanwhile, pulls of the tenuous yet
perfect ending to the film and makes it all fly. Who
else could do that?
Soderbergh takes his flawless ensemble cast and films
the Elmore Leonard novel like an Elmore Leonard novel
should be filmed. He moves back and forth in time with
ease giving the film an ambiance rather than a linear
feel. He shoots the film in that gritty realistic style
of 70's crime dramas/ exploitation films. He even uses
that old technique of freezing a frame mid-scene to
call attention to the action, so we wake up and pay
attention to what we are watching. (A friend of mine
who saw Soderbergh speak about the film in Austin said
the director put these freezes in the moments where
a Leonard chapter would end and a new one begin). Soderbergh
also uses a wonderfully exact soundtrack provided by
David Holmes that is both funky and cinematic. It makes
the film seem taintless by recalling those 70's film
while perfectly accenting the action going on here.
It's great.
Adapted by Scott Frank, who also did the same duty
on "Get Shorty," the script for "Out of Sight" proves
that Leonard novels make excellent films when handled
correctly. The 70's nostalgia genre is the way to shoot
these vehicles and here Soderbergh, while elevating
his own career to a new plateau, proves that he is a
capable director of more than just art- house fair.
"Out of Sight" is a visual, audible, pop, cinematic
treat in the crime drama mode.
Notes:
Cinematography by Elliot Davis.
Pop songs by Dean Martin, Esquivel, and the Isley
Brothers among others.
Producers include Danny Devito, and Barry Sonnenfeld
for Jersey films.
Filmed in L.A., Detroit and Louisianna.
The script mentions "Bonnie and Clyde," "Network,"
"3 Days of the Condor," Michael Bolton and Schubert.
This is the 3rd film named "Out of Sight."
Note: Review written in 1998
Report
Card
Script:
A
Acting: A+
Cinematography\Lighting: A+
Special Effects\Make Up: A+
Music: A+
Final
Grade: A
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