As much as we take Soderbergh’s success for granted today, during a large chunk of the ’90s he was listing about in the Hollywood wilderness, possibly attempting career suicide with Schizopolis and amusing himself with his arthouse take on Spalding Grey’s one-man show, Gray’s Anatomy. What saved him and set him on a permanent track toward all-time greatness was his first studio film, the 1998 crime thriller Out Of Sight. The film, in which a career criminal played by George Clooney romances a U.S. marshal played by Jennifer Lopez, is a perfect match of director and source material. Elmore Leonard’s crackerjack 1996 novel is filled with everything we love about Elmore Leonard novels; the crackling dialogue, the juicy characters, and the seedy, crime-infested milieu. Soderbergh, showing a polish and style we didn’t know he possessed, created a masterful blend of crime film and romance that felt simultaneously modern and a bit ’70s. He also found moments for all his supporting actors to shine, including Albert Brooks, Don Cheadle, Dennis Farina, and Ving Rhames. Out Of Sight is sexy, sultry, and slick. It’s mainstream in the broad strokes but shot through with the pizzazz of an auteurist who doesn’t take himself too seriously. It’s everything we love about Soderbergh wrapped up into one thoroughly entertaining package. From here, Soderbergh would craft one of the great Hollywood careers, a “one for me, one for the studios” directing resume that would make him one of modern cinema’s most restless, intelligent, and successful helmers. [Mark Keizer]
