Jack Foley and Karen Sisco agree that the movie romances happen too quickly; although they know they're wrong for each other, they still fall hopelessly in love. Foley (George Clooney) is a luckless bank robber; Sisco (Jennifer Lopez), a federal marshal. They meet during a prison break. She starts to fall for Foley while held hostage in a getaway car. Foley makes time for romance while he and his partner Buddy (Ving Rhames) plan their Last Big Score.
As in Barry Sonnenfeld's Get Shorty, also adapted from an Elmore Leonard novel, Steven Soderbergh's Out of Sight is dialogue - and character- driven. Although the humour is more restrained, the verbal seductiveness is decisive. With genuine delivery and intimate settings, even the simple words "hey there" become a memorable idiom.
Soderbergh (sex, lies and videotape) fuses irony, charm and courtship into a persuasive opposites-attract piece reminiscent of a Carey Grant film.
From a hand on the hip to the first kiss, the actors have a healthy sexual spark. It doesn't matter that the career criminal happens to be civilised and handsome or that he trusts a law enforcer with his life. Nor does it matter that Sisco falls for her captor; she's feminine AND strong. Their attraction is, as the characters accept, not to be questioned.
Sensual cinematography, a retro-beat soundtrack, a diverse time-line and flattering freeze-frames effect a silky cadence, transgressed only by an underlying wit. The idiosyncratic characters clinch the tone. Buddy confesses his crimes to his sister; Glenn (Steve Zahn), the criminal boob, always says more than he should; and Sisco's father (Dennis Farina) worries about his daughter's dating habits.
Complementing films from Bonnie and Clyde to Pulp Fiction, Out of Sight delivers original material in a stylish manner. Its believability is stretched only by the audiences' belief in fate.
