The film tells of a professional bank robber who is on a different path in his life. After a long time in prison, this man broke away from prison and began to share his life through dialogue and mutual dealings with an American Marshall who had abducted him.
Clooney is the most impressive he's been on film. Jack Foley feels real, not like some Hollywood improvisation. Foley is charming, handsome, graceful, cultured, energetic and disciplined. He just can't stop committing crimes.
By turns bleak, funny, touching, sexy and poignant, with bursts of violence that rise like sudden geysers from a still pool, Out of Sight is chock-full of dead-on performances.
In playing a career criminal who can't get a break, Clooney has finally found a movie role that adroitly showcases his smoldering good looks and smart-aleck demeanor.
The characters all seem to have known each other for years, referring to long-held grudges and resentments that only gradually are revealed to the audience. They're a seedy, petty, dangerous and delightful bunch.
After many mishaps, the art of bringing Elmore Leonard's novels to the screen is coming to fruition. This latest adaptation, by director Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter Scott Frank, gets it just about right.