“Out of Sight”
1998 • 2hs 3mins • Stream on Tubi
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck just tied the knot on Saturday. If you want a great Affleck movie (“Afflick”?), reach for Gone Girl. But we’re focusing on the true power in that couple. Tonight it’s Lopez in 1998’s will-they-won’t-they crime caper Out of Sight.
Here’s the plot. Jack Foley (George Clooney) robs a bank and goes to jail when his getaway Honda won’t start. He gains early parole by way of a breakout tunnel. Karen Sisco (Jennifer Lopez) is in the wrong parking lot at the wrong time and ends up in the trunk of her own car with Jack while Jack’s pal Buddy (Ving Rhames) is at the wheel. Karen talks Glenn (Steve Zahn) into letting her go when the bad guys go to switch cars. But the time in the trunk is enough to keep Karen’s and Jack’s minds on each other. Jack, Buddy and Glenn are on their way north to liberates some diamonds from the house of a man too rich to really miss them (Albert Brooks). In competition for the ice is ego-driven psychopath Maurice Miller (Don Cheadle). Meanwhile, Karen’s still on Jack’s trail, in spite of her dad’s (Dennis Farina) finger-wagging about unavailable men. Can the bad guys we like get to the diamonds before the bad guys we don’t like do? Or will Karen stop them? What happens to Karen and Jack’s Romeo and Juliet vibes if she does?
It’s two movie stars surrounded by a fantasy casting-level roster of character actors. Ving Rhames (Mission: Impossible), Don Cheadle (Avengers movies, lately), Steve Zahn (Sahara), Dennis Farina (Get Shorty), Catherine Keener (Being John Malkovich), Luis Guzman (Carlito’s Way), Michael Keaton (Mr. Mom), Albert Brooks (Finding Nemo). And that’s not even everybody.
This is the movie that locks in The Clooney Formula. 2 parts charming, 1 part neurotic, 3 parts casual zaddy. He’d worked in TV for the better part of two decades, but the leap to movies was happening. Within 18 months, Clooney fronted From Dusk Till Dawn, One Fine Day, and Batman & Robin. This came the year after. Now that’s a diversified portfolio. Clooney’s big screen choices continued to be interesting after this, with roughly half being crowd-pleasing hits. I think it’s easy to mix him up with Brad Pitt, who’s mostly a handsome grin and truly great hair. Clooney’s a cool guy too, but without devaluing Pitt I’d say there’s more on the Clooney palette to paint with. This is the movie that mints him as a real-deal star.
The glue that holds what could have been a mess together in Out of Sight is comedy. There are written jokes (“That okay. I’ll just take your car.”), but a lot of it’s looks and timing. I would have watched another twenty minutes of Farina and Keaton talking circles around how they relate to Karen. The looks Jack and Karen trade as the elevator doors open are perfect. It’s crisp, funny, human. Soderbergh and Clooney would go on to perfect this approach in Ocean’s Eleven three years later.
It was an interesting time for narrative coherence. Pulp Fiction sliced up the plot and scrambled it like a Rubik’s Cube in ’94. By 2000, Nolan told the story backwards with Memento. Out of Sight nestles in the middle in ’98. What does that mean? For this flick, it means mostly linear but sometimes not storytelling. Seems to be when a character’s motivation needs explaining. As a way to keep a flick with a lot going on still about characters, it works like a charm. Don’t think it outstays its welcome for those here for a popcorn good time either.
Let’s wish Jen and Ben good luck. And Jack and Karen. Everybody needs somebody. And by “somebody” I mean Dennis Farina as our dad.
NOTES
This movie clawed its way to $77M against a $48M budget. Less than half of the take was domestic. Critics loved it, but audiences didn’t until it became a rental classic later.
Elmore Leonard wrote the novel of the same name. As far as I can tell, his stories turned into 24 movies.
This is Keaton’s second time playing Ray Nicolette. The first time was in ’97’s Jackie Brown, also based on a Leonard novel (Rum Punch).
Sandra Bullock was originally cast as Karen. Soderbergh said, “[Clooney and Bullock] actually did have a great chemistry. But it was for the wrong movie. They really should do a movie together, but it was not Elmore Leonard energy.” It took a while, but they did put that chemistry to work in 2013’s Gravity.
Steve Zahn does a great Frightened Inmate #2.
I thought the soundtrack sounded familiar. Probably because Soderbergh hired David Holmes to do the soundtrack on this and again on Ocean’s Eleven, Twelve, and Thirteen. Some of the themes are almost identical.
For a repeat of this Clooney performance, watch Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? It came just two years later.