Although it didn’t get the love it deserved at the time, Out of Sight is now recognized as an unmissable crime movie. Three years before he kicked off the Ocean’s franchise, Steven Soderbergh cast George Clooney in a different kind of heist movie, although Out of Sight also benefits from Clooney’s suave appeal.
Out of Sight stars Clooney as a charming bank robber who gets tangled up with the U.S. Marshal (Jennifer Lopez) tasked with tracking him down. It’s based on an Elmore Leonard novel, and it has all the author’s wry wit and intriguing human details. It remains one of Soderbergh’s best movies.
Out Of Sight Wasn’t As Popular As It Should Have Been Upon Release
Out of Sight earned positive reviews from critics, and it currently holds a 94% score on Rotten Tomatoes. This critical success didn’t translate into commercial success, however, and Out of Sight made just $77.7 million at the box office on a budget of $48 million. When taking marketing costs into account, this represents a disappointing performance.
Out of Sight helped welcome Soderbergh into the mainstream. He would make two Best Picture nominees two years later, Traffic and Erin Brockovich, followed by Ocean’s Eleven in 2001. His continued success means that Out of Sight has gotten more and more popular since its release.
As well as boosting Soderbergh’s career, Out of Sight was a big turning point for its two stars. Clooney and Lopez both owe a great debt to Out of Sight, which showed that they could be true movie stars. Their popularity over the next few years also urged more people to reconsider Out of Sight, even if it was unfairly dismissed at the time.
Out Of Sight Is The Perfect Movie To Watch Multiple Times
Like Get Shorty and Jackie Brown, two other Elmore Leonard adaptations from the ’90s, Out of Sight is filled with intelligent dialogue, some of which is lifted directly from the novel. Clooney gets plenty of laughs as an affable rogue, but the script also digs into the mysterious corners of human nature.
Out of Sight is witty and endlessly entertaining, but what makes it worth rewatching is its engrossing style. Soderbergh has always been a master stylist, and Out of Sight hums with life. Every lighting choice, piece of music and careful camera movement makes it one of the coolest movies of the ’90s.
Out of Sight may be a crime movie, but it’s more concerned with the nuances of human emotion than the actual robberies which take place. The crime caper narrative is merely a fitting background for an intense and authentic romance, as two star-crossed lovers play their parts on either side of the law.
