While I enjoyed this movie, and certainly wouldn't discourage anyone from seeing it, I feel it's been somewhat overpraised. I mean, come on, it's just a modest little caper movie for crying out loud, let's not get carried away. The main problem I had with it was the central relationship between Clooney and Lopez; I don't know, I just didn't buy it, they didn't convince me that they were so all-consumingly attracted to each other that they would jeopardize themselves the way they did. I think the initial conversation they had in the car would have needed to be A LOT better for me to go along with it all (although I couldn't say exactly how).
Of course, since I didn't buy the central relationship, the fact that I still liked the film is a testament to how well everything else in the movie works. The cast is uniformly great - from Ving Rhames as Clooney's guilt-plagued assistant to Steve Zahn's memorable stoner of a crook. The look of the film is superb, and the chopped up editing works exceptionally well. Of course, it's easy to get the sense, while watching, that a great deal of craft and style has been expended to cover up what is essentially a mediocre story. So be it. It still works, if just barely, and is good for an evening of light entertainment. But as far as Elmore Leonard movies go, it doesn't hold a candle to Get Shorty.
Of course, since I didn't buy the central relationship, the fact that I still liked the film is a testament to how well everything else in the movie works. The cast is uniformly great - from Ving Rhames as Clooney's guilt-plagued assistant to Steve Zahn's memorable stoner of a crook. The look of the film is superb, and the chopped up editing works exceptionally well. Of course, it's easy to get the sense, while watching, that a great deal of craft and style has been expended to cover up what is essentially a mediocre story. So be it. It still works, if just barely, and is good for an evening of light entertainment. But as far as Elmore Leonard movies go, it doesn't hold a candle to Get Shorty.