Top 100 Movies Of The 1990's: #35 Out Of Sight
Box Office: $37.6 Million
Oscar Nominations: Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing
Oscar Wins: None
MovieRankings.Net: 89/100
Available To Stream: Prime Video ($4)
It's very different watching this movie now then when it came out. There is so much of Ocean's 11 in Out Of Sight. Obviously when it was released in 1998, you couldn't see that. But it makes for an interesting watch now. Steven Soderbergh directed both but it even goes beyond how the movie looks and feels. It's certainly a grittier movie than Ocean's 11 (I mean, everything is and I say that loving Ocean's 11) but the DNA is very similar.
Even George Clooney's character Jack Foley almost morphs into Danny Ocean by the end of the movie. He starts off as a more intelligent and charming version of his O Brother, Where Art Thou character but by the end, he's a brilliant and slick hero. I don't entirely buy the transformation but it is fun to watch.
This is Jennifer Lopez's best movie by a country mile. I wish she had stuck with more crime dramas then go down the romcom road. Then again, this made $37 million and Maid In Manhattan made $94 million dollars so what the fuck do I know? She is fantastic here and her and Clooney are such a good looking and charming couple, you almost can't help but root for them. I love that her Karen Cisco character is smart and believable as a US Marshal. It's also a very hard role to play as we need to believe she'd fall for a career criminal like the one Clooney plays.
The rest of the cast is pretty fantastic even beyond Clooney and J-Lo: Don Cheadle, Ving Rhames, Steve Zahn, Albert Brooks and even cameos by Samuel L. Jackson and Michael Keaton. Everyone seems like they are having a blast making this and the score is just as fun. The movie breezes by (once again similar to Ocean's 11) and I don't mean in a negative way at all. It's not a simple watch at all but it's an easy one (if that makes any sense).
I like this movie a lot but it's not even in my top three Soderbergh movies. I have Ocean's 11, Traffic and Contagion ahead of it. That's not a slight at all at Out Of Sight but more a point of how good I think his films are. I know they made Solaris together (which didn't really work) but I'd love to see an older Clooney and Soderbergh team up again. He is at his most likable when Soderbergh is behind the lens.
Sandra Bullock was supposed to be Karen Cisco instead of Jennifer Lopez. Bullock and Clooney obviously can work well together (it's a small part of the movie but they are good in Gravity) but Lopez brings a coolness factor that an Elmore Leonard novel turned movie really needs. Bullock can be too funny/goofy and even more grounded than Lopez. You aren't supposed to relate to these characters but you do need to like them. That's something J-Lo can do really well.
You aren't going to find a sexier and better looking movie set in a Detroit winter than this one. It's like I said in the beginning of the blog: If you love Ocean's 11, you'll really like Out Of Sight.
35. Out Of Sight
36. Carlito's Way
37. Seven
38. L.A. Confidential
39. Speed
40. Gattaca
41. Misery
42. Tombstone
43. Ransom
44. Wayne's World
45. The Insider
46. Back To The Future Part III
47. A Bronx Tale
48. The People Vs. Larry Flynt
49. Eyes Wide Shut
50. The Sandlot
51. Happy Gilmore
52. Contact
53. The Green Mile
54. Man On The Moon
55. Boyz N The Hood
56. Grosse Pointe Blank
57. Independence Day
58. The Rainmaker
59. Go
60. The Firm
61. Magnolia
62. The Talented Mr. Ripley
63. Tommy Boy
64. The Usual Suspects
65. In The Line Of Fire
66. My Cousin Vinny
67. Awakenings
68. JFK
69. Toy Story
70. Home Alone
71. Jerry Maguire
72. Titanic
73. Billy Madison
74. Apollo 13
75. Braveheart
76. Edward Scissorhands
77. Cape Fear
78. The River Wild
79. What's Eating Gilbert Grape?
80. 12 Monkeys
81. Stir Of Echoes
82. Mission: Impossible
83. Total Recall
84. Quiz Show
85. For Love Of The Game
86. Being John Malkovich
87. Men In Black
88. Scream
89. Alive
90. Three Kings
91. Glengarry Glen Ross
92. Die Hard With A Vengeance
93. The Blair Witch Project
94. Twister
95. Dirty Work
96. Election
97. Tremors
98. Any Given Sunday
99. The Wedding Singer
100. Clerks