Out Of Sight (1998, R)

This fun caper flick stars George Clooney (Ocean's Eleven, ER tv series) and Jennifer Lopez (The Cell, Maid In Manhattan... c'mon, JLo the signer, you know who she is), supported by Ving Rhames (Mission: Impossible, Striptease), Don Cheadle (Iron Man 2, Hotel Rwanda), and Dennis Farina (Snatch, Get Shorty).  Clooney plays a career bank robber who has spent a good chunk of his life behind bars (as have his criminal associates Rhames and Cheadle, friend and less-so respectively) and JLo plays a federal marshal (presumably her father, played by Farina, is a veteran himself) who meets him under strange circumstances.  While the lead actors have disappointed me in the past (Lopez in Gili, Clooney in Batman And Robin), they did great jobs here.  Lopez was far more believable as a tough girl in here than in Gili, though my favorite film of hers (despite her) is The Cell which I absolutely loved largely for the costumes, set design and special effects.  Bit of a tangent there, sorry.  I don't think I've ever been disappointed by the supporting actors though: Rhames was the best part of Striptease, which was itself better than I expected it to be; Farina is one of the (many, now that I think about it) most memorable characters in Snatch; Cheadle (like everyone else in the film), acted his ass of in Crash.

  Also in the film were Albert Brooks (Justify Your Life, Finding Nemo), Luis Guzman (Anger Management, Carlito's Way), Catherine Keener (Being John Malkovich, The 40 Year Old Virgin), Steve Zahn (That Thing You Do, Saving Silverman), Michael Keaton (Beetle Juice, Multiplicity), and Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction, The Caveman's Valentine).  The film isn't exactly a comedy, but it is very quirky and I found it very amusing if not laugh-out-loud funny.  It's not without violence though, so don't go thinking it's a family film.  The story is based on a novel by Elmore Leonard (as was the film Jackie Brown, in which Keaton played his same character from this film, also the films Get Shorty, Be Cool and 3:10 To Yuma... I think I'm an Elmore Leonard fan).

It's kind of like The Thomas Crown Affair but with snappier dialogue and a more dynamic likable protagonist.  One scene that really impressed me was when two characters were talking at a hotel bar/lounge.  The visual scene would cut between their discussion at the bar and them being together in the hotel room (classy room, no nudity), while the sound of the conversation played over the whole thing (matching their lips in the bar and surprisingly fitting in the room, to the point that I thought at first that the scene had simply moved on to the next location).  The cinematography was beautiful, the dialogue engaging and the overall feel was just very well put together.  Another fun part was when Clooney and JLo were discussing movies, which is fun for a cinephile like myself.  The acting was good, the lines were snappy and the story moved in an amusing but non-ridiculous way.  If you liked Kiss Kiss Bang Bang then you'll like this film.  For me it's 5 stars.