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Created Aug 28, 2013 09:27PM PST • Edited Jul 09, 2021 01:13AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Really Great 4.5

   Out of Sight and into the pantheon of crime-comedies – start with Stephen Soderburgh directing George Clooney in an Elmore Leonard story. Speaking of gorgeous, J-Lo gets into the trunk with G-Cloo.

   Other positives: Bright bluesy opening; Danny DeVito’s Jersey Films producing; Clooney, young & sharp.

   Classic Elmore Leonard: Seems plausible, barely. Clooney’s Jack Foley is a bank robber extraordinaire.

   Fabulous cast, most notably Jennifer Lopez as Karen Sisco. What a name. Karen Sisco. How cool is that.

   One of the best romantic set-ups of all time follows. Clooney and J Lo in a trunk, him behind her. She hasn’t seen him, doesn’t know what he looks like. Yet he impresses her, over her shoulder. They bond over movies — Bonnie and Clyde and Three Days of the Condor.

   She finally looks at him several minutes in, and it’s Gorgeous George. Surprise!

   Out of Sight specializes in great seductions. J Lo eying Clooney in the bath, which he’s got candlelit. Funny. There’s also a fist full of punchy LOLs: the prison fight scene early and the fat guy tripping later.

   You gotta love that it’s studded with moviestar moments, and not just from J. Lo and Clooney. Nearly an hour in when the long awaited boyfriend enters and it’s Michael Keaton, a terrific addition to any movie.

   Nonetheless, that has a hard time competing with J Lo shooting down three ad guys in a hotel bar. Her moviestar strip scene with Clooney is certainly another, arousing for any number of sexual orientations.

   Soderburgh directing Leonard yields a film of beautiful set-ups & primo payoffs – “You wanted to tussel. We tussled.” The plot brilliantly wraps around, even if it’s hard to follow in the early going.

   Brilliant editing makes that work. No surprise that an Academy Award nomination for Editing followed.

   The finale frames J Lo in the reflection of the arch of the police station while she sits stoic in a vehicle — really great till the end.

4. Acting

   Really Great 4.5

   George Clooney’s Jack Foley is the smartest, most gallant, dashing criminal ever. Gorgeous George was lean and almost young when he made Out of Sight with J. Lo. She was peaking as the hottest female form on the planet. They engage in one of the most seductive pairings in movie history. Smoking hot.

   Jennifer Lopez redefined the apotheotic¹ female form, i.e. the hottest of hotties. Her bodacious bottom turned the beauty world upside down, if you get my drift. Gifted a character named Karen Sisco, she hits it out of the park, clutch in the clinches with Clooney even.

   It’s all about them, a romantic pairing for the ages. Yet they’re supported by a deck of aces.

   • Dennis Farina as Marshall Sisco. That’s his name. Marshall. Karen Sisco’s Dad. Their Father-Daughter flirting tees-up an inevitable romance with two men. Farina rocked.
   • Michael Keaton plays one of the two, the one with reason to believe he’s her boyfriend.
   • Ving Rhames backs up Clooney as Buddy Bragg.
   • Don Cheadle as Maurice “Mouse” Miller, boxer turned enforcer. Isaiah Washington as his muscle.
   • Catherine Keener rocks skintight pants as the girl back in Miami.
   • Steve Zahn slays as the stupid con with big ideas.
   • Albert Brooks dons skullcap and rules over all as the white collar con.
   • Luis Guzmán as the Cuban. Paul Soileau – his man LuLu.

   ¹ Apotheotic – I made up a word. So sue me. Apotheosis needed an adjectival form.

5. Male Stars Really Great 4.5

6. Female Stars Really Great 4.5

7. Female Costars Really Great 4.5

8. Male Costars Really Great 4.5

10. Film

    Perfect 5.0

    Stephen Soderburgh – directing an Elmore Leonard novel – doesn’t make a mistake all the way through, notwithstanding taking many chances.

    The Oscar-worthy editing from the legendary Anne Coates enables not just the wraparound plot, but lots of foreshadowing throughout. Bravo.

    One notable visual jewel: the diamond-like snow falling outside the hotel windows in the Detroit scenes. Snowmakers Dieter Sturm and Craig Symons should take a bow.

11. Direction Perfect 5.0

12. Play Perfect 5.0

    Nice detail in the script.

    This has to be one of the two best Elmore Leonard movies, along with Get Shorty.

13. Music Perfect 5.0

14. Visuals Perfect 5.0

    How about that poster up above? Perfect movie star visuals.

    Beyond that there’s 26 stunt players. Another fun fact: The Federal Pen scenes were filmed at Angola Pen in Louisiana, notwithstanding they were supposed to be at the Glades in Florida and Lompoc in California.

15. Content

16. Edge

    Sordid 3.5

    Ascending Edge: 3.0 Sex, 3.7 Violence, 3.9 Rudeness makes for a movie Erotic, Savage and Nasty. That don’t make it not Really Great, which it is. Just makes it Sordid. Overall, that is. Extremely Sordid overall.

17. Sex Erotic 3.0

18. Violence Savage 3.7

19. Rudeness Nasty 3.9

21. Reality

    Surreal 2.2

    Elmore Leonard’s surrealism – like Steve Jobs’ Reality Distortion Field – is pleasing to believing viewers. Leonard makes it easy to believe bunk because it all sounds so plausible, especially coming from Clooney.

22. Circumstantial Surreal 2.6

23. Biological Surreal 2.6

24. Physical Glib 1.5