Movie Quote of the Day (‘Out of Sight,’ As a Bank Robber and Marshal Chat About What Might Have Been)

Jack Foley [played by George Clooney]: “You sure are easy to talk to. I was thinkin', if we met under different circumstances...if you were in a bar and I came up and we started talkin'...I wonder what would happen.”

Karen Sisco [played by Jennifer Lopez]: “Nothing.”

Jack: “If you didn't know who I was….”

Karen: “You'd probably tell me.”

Jack: “Just saying, if we met under different circumstances...”

Karen: “You have got to be kidding.”— Out of Sight (1998), screenplay by Scott Frank, based on the novel by Elmore Leonard, directed by Steven Soderbergh

I try to stay on top of upcoming film, book, and music anniversaries for purposes of this blog, but this sly, really enjoyable heist film —which premiered 25 years ago this week—came to my attention again through Jason Bailey’s account in today’s New York Times.

There are some movies that you can’t believe succeeded at the box office, they’re so criminally stupid. On the other hand, it’s criminally stupid when a movie with such wickedly offbeat dialogue and great chemistry between Clooney and Lopez underperforms.

Well, that’s what cable, DVD and streaming are for: to allow you another crack at a movie that, for reasons best known to you, you never got around to before. As Bailey notes, the movie ultimately helped turn around the careers of the two stars and Steven Soderbergh.

As for me: I was one of the lucky ones, sitting in a movie theater a quarter century ago, trying to figure out what would happen next between Clooney’s smooth, smiling career criminal and Lopez’s tough federal marshal who takes a liking to the bad boy despite herself.

Twenty years ago, Lopez’s character was turned into the ongoing center of a TV series, Karen Sisco, starring Carla Gugino. I never got around to watching it, even though it was on TV for three seasons. I guess I couldn’t see how it could top what was on the big screen.