Sight (No Longer) Unseen

I'm a huge fan of director Steven Soderbergh's remake of Ocean's Eleven. Surprisingly, though, I had never seen the movie that essentially made Ocean's Eleven possible. No, not the original Rat Pack version. (What a snooze!) The 1998 movie Out of Sight. Based on the novel by Elmore Leonard, Out of Sight is the story of bank robber Jack Foley, who escapes from prison and becomes infatuated with the U.S. Marshal pursuing him, Karen Sisco.

There are numerous reasons I could have found my way to this movie earlier. It was the first collaboration between Soderbergh and actor George Clooney. (That's what I mean when I say it paved the way for Ocean's Eleven.) It was near the front of a trend that brought more "non-chronological storytelling" to movies; you can see where this film took the baton from Pulp Fiction and passed it on to many that followed. It was based on the writing of Elmore Leonard, which I might easily have backtracked to pick up after so thoroughly enjoying the TV series Justified. It was the first notable screen appearance of the character of Karen Sisco, which I might also have backtracked for after thoroughly enjoying the half-season-and-cancelled-too-soon series named for the character, starring Carla Gugino.

In any case, I may be more than 25 years late to the party, but I'm here now. And as far as I'm concerned, the party is still going strong: Out of Sight is super fun. The casting is great and the characters are sharp. If you liked Ocean's Eleven (and/or any of its sequels) you can't help but enjoy George Clooney's brand of unflappable cool, oozing all over this movie. His Eleven co-star Don Cheadle is here too, playing an often-as-smooth, but very "flappable" villain.

Ving Rhames is here, which totally makes sense when you think about how "heisty" this movie is, and realize that Mission: Impossible was just turning into a franchise at about this time. (What's surprising, actually, is that Rhames didn't appear in the Ocean's movies.) The movie's deep, deep bench of supporting characters are played by the likes of Steve Zahn, Albert Brooks, Dennis Farina, Luis Guzmán, Isaiah Washington, Nancy Allen, Catherine Keener, and Viola Davis. And there are a couple of delightful cameos as well, best not spoiled if you too have somehow gone all this time without seeing this movie.

Then there's Jennifer Lopez in the role of Karen Sisco. Certainly, I like her performance; she has great chemistry opposite Clooney, and what her work was enough to make some studio executive say, "hey, this character deserves a TV series." Without taking anything away from Lopez though, I'll just say two things. One, I feel like the writing of her character isn't as strong (in several senses of that word) as it could be. And two, Carla Gugino is to me just a next level actress who is amazing in everything. I haven't watched an episode of the Karen Sisco series since it was canceled-too-soon, and yet I still remember how that show made me thinking, "who is she?" -- and subsequently liking her in everything I've seen her in right up to The Fall of the House of Usher. In my own personal non-chronological approach to the character of Karen Sisco, Jennifer Lopez had a tough act to follow.

Regardless, I was tickled by this movie. Even though I'd heard people talking about it here and there over the years, I feel like I've discovered some hidden gem. I give Out of Sight an A-. If you've never seen it before, and even remotely like the heist genre (and/or Elmore Leonard), I think you'll love it. If you have seen it before, but it's been a while, it's probably a movie you'd appreciate revisiting.