Review of Out of Sight (1998) by Ollie W — 17 Jan 2011

Soderbergh combines Clooney's masterful performance and Leonard's brilliant source material to lovely effect. A film that is content to explore the journey, over the destination, this sits closer in style and subtlety to Soderbergh's stunning debut than his more inane, horribly generic, recent efforts.

Indeed, this is far more stylish than the "Oceans" series (without the broad strokes of mainstream comedy or the overly self-aware winking and nodding) and a visually sizzling central coupling of J-Lo's sumptuous booty and Clooney's wonderful smile, we get a tense and faintly rediculous story, something involving jails, boxers, Federal Marshalls and wigs, all of which is basically irrelevent as the focus remains rightfully on Clooney's brilliant, impulsive, ungainly performance and a handful of superb supporting efforts (Rhames, Cheadle, Farina, Brooks, Zahn, Guzman) who despite the twisty, turny, non-sensical, double crossing fun of the plot - are always going to make this essentially silly stuff completely and utterly watchable.