Having invigorated his spirit with two quick, cheap, aggressively independent movies that were seen by virtually nobody (Gray's Anatomy and Schizopolis), indie wunderkind Steven Soderbergh (sex, lies and videotape) returns to Hollywood with the best Elmore Leonard adaptation to date, outclassing both 1995's uneven Get Shorty and Quentin Tarantino's bloated Jackie Brown. In fact, Soderbergh scarcely makes a false move here, from his playful fracturing of the film's chronology (incredibly, you're never for a moment confused about where you are in the story) to his graceful use of freeze-frames as emotional punctuation (the opening shot, in particular, is a doozy) to his inspired casting choices (neither George Clooney nor Jennifer Lopez--as a bank robber and the federal marshal who falls for him, respectively--has ever been more appealing). The weak link, as usual, is the source material--Leonard's novels are invariably engaging and funny but also infuriatingly slight, and the movies made from them tend to fade from memory as soon as they've finished unspooling (Out of Sight, out of mind, you might say). While it's still flickering in front of you, however, this pleasantly artful cop'n'robber saga is a much-needed reminder of what big-budget American movies are supposed to be. Recommended. (M. D'Angelo)
Out of Sight
(Universal, 123 min., R, <b>DVD</b>) Vol. 14, Issue 1
Out of Sight
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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