Out of Sight (1998)

  This was last week's Movie Club pick, along with Jackie Brown as an Elmore Leonard double feature.  It was an interesting juxtaposition of two different directors handling similar source material.  So let's talk about Steven Soderbergh.  Content warning:  attempted rape, moderate gore

Jack (George Clooney), a bank robber, breaks out of prison but has the bad luck to be spotted by U.S. Marshal Karen Sisco (Jennifer Lopez) in the parking lot.  He takes the Marshal hostage and the two experience a brief moment of mutual attraction.  Sisco then makes it her mission to track Jack down and foil whatever plan he has.  Jack finds his schemes further complicated by an accomplice who can't keep his mouth shut (Steve Zahn) and a psychopath (Don Cheadle) intent on taking over the score: uncut diamonds held by Richard Ripley (Albert Brooks), a white collar criminal himself.

I had seen this before, probably when it came out or shortly thereafter but all I remembered was the chemistry between the leads.  Watching it this time, I was surprised by how depressing it actually is.  **SPOILERS** Jack is a career criminal adamant about Not Going Back to Prison.  So much so that the climax of the film is him attempting to have his law enforcement lover kill him as Suicide by Cop rather than be arrested.  **END SPOILERS**  There are cute, flirty elements but the crux is two people who can never be together without violating their principles.  And some laws.  

Clooney is excellent with every other cast member.  He is Charisma Personified, a fact that Soderbergh took full advantage of in every film he made with the actor.  This is early in Lopez's film career, just a couple of years after her star-making turn in Selena, and you can see the bones of what could have been a solid indie character actor that unfortunately, Soderbergh doesn't seem to know what to do with here.  Every Sisco scene without Clooney is flat.  It's clearly written to show that Sisco is a dedicated LEO but the camera can't stop tripping over her ass or legs or lips as she bounces around the screen in designer clothes.  That's not Lopez's fault.  

Soderbergh has always been much better directing men than women.  Compare Ocean's 11 with Erin Brockovich.  I'm not saying he can't direct women (although Side Effects would lean towards that), he's just much better at directing men.  

Out of Sight is currently only available for rental unless you have a VPN.