Product Details

• Actors: George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez, Ving Rhames, Steve Zahn, Jim Robinson
• Directors: Steven Soderbergh
• Writers: Elmore Leonard, Scott Frank
• Producers: Barry Sonnenfeld, Danny DeVito, John Hardy, Michael Shamberg, Stacey Sher
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Universal Studios
• VHS Release Date: June 1, 1999
• Run Time: 123 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (259 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0783230982
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #540,277 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Out of Sight scored critical raves, but its title sums up the theatrical fate of Steven Soderbergh's coolly comic crime caper and misfit romance based on Elmore Leonard's novel. But this is the sort of buried treasure home video was created to rescue.

George Clooney comes into his own as a leading man in the role of inveterate bank robber Jack Foley. Incarcerated, he uses another inmate's prison break as a cover for his own escape. Waiting for him, according to plan, is his partner, Buddy (Ving Rhames). Also waiting for him, not according to plan, is federal agent Karen Sisco (the ravishing Jennifer Lopez). She finds herself disarmed in more ways than one when she is deposited in the getaway car's trunk with Jack. But that doesn't stop her from joining the task force created to capture him, while he plans "one last heist."

Out of Sight is a rich, entertaining film, stylish without being showy, faithful to the integrity of Leonard's potent dialogue and quirky characters, and seamlessly acted by a dream ensemble. Standouts include Albert Brooks as convicted insider trader Richard Ripley, who while in prison brags to the wrong people that he has $5 million in uncut diamonds hidden in his house; Don Cheadle as Maurice (don't call him "Snoopy") Miller, with whom Jack warily teams up to steal said diamonds; Dennis Farina as Karen's protective father (his idea of a birthday gift is a Sig-Hauer .38); and, in unbilled cameos, Michael Keaton, reprising his Jackie Brown role as FBI agent Ray Nicolet, and Samuel L. Jackson.

If you liked Get Shorty and Jackie Brown, you'll find this, well, Out of Sight. --Donald Liebenson

From The New Yorker

After many mishaps, the art of bringing Elmore Leonard's novels to the screen is coming to fruition. This latest adaptation, by director Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter Scott Frank, gets it just about right. George Clooney, a kindly bank robber, breaks out of jail and into the life of Karen Cisco (Jennifer Lopez), who is, if you are prepared to believe it, a U.S. marshal. He kidnaps her, then releases her, after which she turns the tables and spends the rest of the movie looking for him; behind the threat of violence, it's a fluent comedy of errors. This being Leonard country, the two leads are required to go to bed with each other before the final shootout; the sex itself is the one point of visual sloppiness in a movie that is otherwise crisp and smartly edited, full of bleached Miami sunshine and leaden snowstorms in Detroit. The supporting players-Ving Rhames, Nancy Allen, Catherine Keener, and a balding Albert Brooks-are a casting director's dream, with the honors going to the stoned and dumbly dazzled Steve Zahn. -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FIVE STAR SEXUAL CHEMISTRY, November 25, 2001

By 

Mr. N. Carnegie (Kirkcaldy, Scotland, UK.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Out of Sight (Collector's Edition) (DVD)

George Clooney stars with Jennifer Lopez in this excellent and entertaining romantic heist movie, unfortunately much overlooked and poorly promoted on its theatrical release. Based on the novel by Elmore Leonard and superbly and subtly directed by Steven Soderbergh. George Clooney (as bank robber Jack Foley) and Jennifer Lopez (as Federal Marshall Karen Sisco) light up the screen with previously unparalleled sexual chemistry in the movie that finally launched their big screen careers to the A list, after previous false starts (such as The Peacemaker and The Money Train respectively). Also boasting a very impressive supporting cast that includes Ving Rhames, Don Cheadle, Steve Zahn, Albert Brooks, Dennis Farina (as Jennifer Lopez father) and great cameos from Michael Keaton and Samuel L. Jackson, movies really don't get much better than this.

Principally this is the story of serial bank robber Jack Foley and Federal Marshall Karen Sisco, on opposite sides of the law but inescapably attracted to each other. When Jack escapes from prison aided by his friend Buddy (Rhames) he ends up in the trunk of a car with the kidnapped Karen Sisco (Lopez) after she nearly foils the prison break. However, thanks to their inept friend Glenn Michaels (Zahn), Karen escapes and Jack and Buddy have to go on the run. Meanwhile, Karen Sisco is hot on Jack's trail in more ways than one in this brilliantly played, beautifully written, excellently directed movie. This has everything I love about movies, a great story, great cast and great style. Truly unmissable and well worthy of five stars.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The first DVD I bought, February 17, 2000

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---- John T. Jameson (Laguna Beach, ca United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Out of Sight (Collector's Edition) (DVD)

When I finally got my DVD player this was the first one I bought. Why? Because not only is the film spectacular but this DVD has a host of fabulous extras that very few DVD's can match. The story and characters are all well thought out and I never felt that this film made a misstep. I never write reviews for these kinds of things but I read that one person felt that this film was unoriginal and I just had to say my piece. If anything this film is completely original. I am a film major and have been in school studying film for almost four years, trust me when I say this film is deserving of its praise and it has a lot of it.

31 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lopez & Clooney Shine, January 31, 2001

By 

Thomas Magnum (NJ, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Out of Sight (Collector's Edition) (DVD)

Out Of Sight is yet another movie based on an Elmore Leonard book. Mr. Leonard's books are always full of colorful characters and sharp dialogue and unfortunately that many times doesn't transfer to the screen. This movie is another story. Steven Soderbergh has taken the true spirit of the book and captured it in this movie. The movie is interspersed with flashbacks and this allows us to see how characters got to certain points in the film. The film revolves around bank robber Jack Foley (George Clooney) and FBI agent Karen Sisco (Jennifer Lopez). Foley breaks out of a Florida prison and comes into contact with Karen as his accomplices hijack her and her car. She and Foley are put in the truck and the conversation between the two of them is scintillating. They let her go unharmed and she is on the case tracking him, but she finds that she has feelings for him. There are some great plot twists that I won't give away and the movie ends in surprising fashion. This movie showed that George Clooney had big screen star potential as his understated, cool persona is perfect for this role. Jennifer Lopez burns up the screen with sexy charm. The supporting players include the always solid Ving Rhames, a sinister Don Cheadle and a hysterical Steven Zahn. Out Of Sight is a fast-paced, well-crafted and completely entertaining movie.