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. 

Advertisement

Universal. Shutterstock Images.

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.

Advertisement

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