Out of Sight is often named by critics as the most overlooked, underappreciated movie of 1998. In a year that featured Rushmore, Saving Private Ryan, Shakespeare in Love, and American History X, it may seem wild to call a hardly-heard-of Soderbergh flick one of the best, but it has to be seen to be believed. Jack Foley (George Clooney), a bank robber with more than 100 heists to his name, and U.S. Marshal Karen Sisco (Jennifer Lopez), are forced to share a car trunk during Foley's escape from prison. After he completes his getaway, he and his friends- right-hand man Buddy (Ving Rhames) and unreliable associate Glenn (Steve Zahn)- work their way north to Bloomfield Hills, evading the police and trying to make one final big score. Sisco follows in hot pursuit, all the while trying to deal with her married boyfriend and her job. As Foley and Sisco are drawn closer and closer together by their plans, a romantic interlude between the two takes place, but the question of whether she is really pursuing Foley for love or to arrest him is ever present.
One of my more smooth-talking friends names this as the movie that's gotten him laid the highest number of times, and there's a reason why. The film is quick, funny, and very, very sexy. Clooney and Lopez are, of course, incredibly attractive people, but until this movie came out seventeen years ago, they were just pretty faces. Clooney combines the macho ruggedness of Steve McQueen with the easy charm of Cary Grant to exude the casual charisma we now know him for. As Karen Sisco, Lopez gets rid of the vulnerability associated with female leads and instead brings humor, toughness, and a whole lot of sex appeal to the role. The combination of these two sizzling personalities results in something often missing in modern movie romances: chemistry. Using intricate flashbacks and a unique visual style, Soderbergh takes a sharp script from Scott Frank (who also wrote Get Shorty) and turns it into a thoroughly accomplished work. This is a movie that is ambitious, sophisticated and full of good humor and bright dialogue.
One of my more smooth-talking friends names this as the movie that's gotten him laid the highest number of times, and there's a reason why. The film is quick, funny, and very, very sexy. Clooney and Lopez are, of course, incredibly attractive people, but until this movie came out seventeen years ago, they were just pretty faces. Clooney combines the macho ruggedness of Steve McQueen with the easy charm of Cary Grant to exude the casual charisma we now know him for. As Karen Sisco, Lopez gets rid of the vulnerability associated with female leads and instead brings humor, toughness, and a whole lot of sex appeal to the role. The combination of these two sizzling personalities results in something often missing in modern movie romances: chemistry. Using intricate flashbacks and a unique visual style, Soderbergh takes a sharp script from Scott Frank (who also wrote Get Shorty) and turns it into a thoroughly accomplished work. This is a movie that is ambitious, sophisticated and full of good humor and bright dialogue.