- I suppose it's an index of Quentin Tarantino's success that even a director as talented and successful as Steven Soderbergh once tried to emulate his films. Sure, Out of Sight isn't quite as violent or self-consciously stylized as Pulp Fiction, but the seemingly random flashbacks, funky soundtrack, and goofily chatty and philosophical criminals all feel pretty familiar. By the time Samuel L. Jackson cameos near the end, it hardly feels like a surprise.
- But unlike Tarantino, Soderbergh actually cares deeply about his characters. He really wants to watch habitual bank robber Jack Foley (George Clooney) and Miami detective Karen Sisco (Jennifer Lopez) fall in love, and he really wants to audience to care that they do. The film's other threads, having mostly to do with Foley's escapades with his devoted pal Buddy (Ving Rhames), a kooky attempt to rob a white collar criminal (Albert Brooks) with associates both stoned (Steve Zahn) and dangerous (Don Cheadle, Isaiah Washington, Keith Loneker), and Sisco's troubles with her father and (Dennis Farina) and FBI boyfriend (Michael Keaton) alike are just a distraction from the big love story.
- The trouble is, their "sharing a moment" romance is not actually all that interesting. Sure, Clooney is one of the more eminently watchable actors of his generation and, yes, Lopez is convincing enough as a strong female lead, but their supposed chemistry never generates much heat. Simultaneously, Soderbergh's tangential excursions into the cinematographically oversaturated past prove to be far less appropriate and captivating than they were in The Limey, for example. Toss in some unnecessary eruptions of violence and a few attempted rapes, and you have a film that is little more than a cheap knockoff of an already suspect brand name. If only Tarantino had started emulating Soderbergh instead, maybe two problems would have been solved.
- Luis Guzman has a minor role as an oddly marble-mouthed convict.
