REVIEWS

"OUT OF SIGHT"

When I saw the movie trailer for "Out of Sight," I had very little interest in seeing the movie. It looked okay, and Jennifer Lopez was looking really sexy, but I figured that I would wait for video. But then the reviews came out. They were all positive. VERY positive. A sucker for good word-of-mouth, I went and saw it. The positive reviews are all justified. "Out of Sight" is (so far) the best movie of the year.

While watching the movie, I was thinking to myself that the movie was good, but I couldn't see what all the fuss was about. I think that my expectations were too high. But after walking outta the theater, and thinking about the movie a day later, I realized that I liked this movie a whole lot.

George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez were great together. Absolutely great. The scenes that they had together were just brilliant. Their acting was high-caliber stuff. I knew that they were both decent actors, but I never expected the performances that these two gave. The other actors were just as good. Ving Rhames, Dennis Farina (who was in a previous film based on an Elmore Leonard novel, "Get Shorty"), Albert Brooks, and Don Cheadle (one of my favorite actors working today). Also, keep your eyes open for a couple of HUGE cameos. One is especially relevant if you remember "Jackie Brown," and the other... well, you'll know when you see it.

"Out of Sight" was directed by Steven Soderbergh, an independent filmmaker who made his name with "Kafka" (which I never saw) and "Sex, Lies, and Videotape" (which I saw and was disappointed by... but I may have just been bitter because it beat out "Do the Right Thing" that year in the "Cannes Film Festival"). I never thought he was a big deal, but this movie ends that. This is a movie where it's obvious that the director knew what he was doing. There is an excellent sequence where George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez are talking in a bar, and it's intercut with something else... and it's one of the best sequences I've ever seen. Every shot was perfect. As for the writing, it was based on the Elmore Leonard novel of the same name, and the screenplay was by Scott Frank, who also wrote "Dead Again," "Little Man Tate," and the screenplay adaptation of another Elmore Leonard novel, "Get Shorty." There was a tremendous amount of talent involved with this film, and it shows.

This is the best film so far based on an Elmore Leonard novel, "Get Shorty" being a close second and "Jackie Brown" being a distant third. Unfortunately, it's not doing well in the box office, and that's a real shame. Do yourselves a favor and see this movie.

Scale of 1-10: 10