MOVIE REVIEW: "The Outfit" Shows the Makings of a Crime Movie Kingpin
9/12 ForReel Score | 4/5 Stars
There’s been a quiet street war happening on Hollywood Boulevard over the last few years between Guy Ritchie and Steven Soderbergh. From The Gentlemen and Wrath of Man to No Sudden Move and Kimi, these two acclaimed filmmakers have been consistently delivering a dying breed of movie: the mid-budget crime film for adults. But move over fellas, because there’s a new contender in town. Graham Moore, the Oscar winning screenwriter of The Imitation Game, has made his directorial debut with The Outfit: a single-location crime drama that would give the best of Ritchie and Soderbergh’s recent efforts a run for their money.
Set in a tailor’s shop in 1950s Chicago, The Outfit is a one-night journey through a labyrinth of streetgang politics, murder plots, and FBI conspiracies. Mark Rylance, playing an English tailor (though he’d tell you he’s a cutter) with a dark past, takes the lead, while Johnny Flynn, Zoey Deutch, Dylan O’Brien, Nikki Amuka-Bird, and Simon Russell Beale round out the cast of mobsters and informants. Each gets their own moment to shine (O’Brien and Flynn, especially), but the real star of The Outfit is Moore’s writing and direction.
Backed by a jazzy orchestral score, The Outfit zips along, untangling and re-tangling a web of deceit countless times in under two hours. Moore may slip into a few pitfalls that many writer-directors do at the beginning of their careers, relying too heavily on expository dialogue or sacrificing character growth for a quick plot twist, for example; but for the most part, The Outfit is a tight and compelling work.
Moore never lets up the pressure, advancing the story every second he gets. The film’s dialogue flows seamlessly from funny banter to intense speculative interrogation, often only to be cut off at a fever-pitch by a ringing telephone or a knock on the door. The next twist, the next mob boss, the next handwringing plot advancement is always just moments away. For his part, Mark Rylance does an excellent job of maintaining that suspense without letting his performance be consumed by it. His role slots him into every scene in the movie, which allows an actor as seasoned as Rylance the leeway to serve up a menagerie of different tones. He is dry, but funny; mysterious, yet inviting; a control freak perched on the bottom ladder rung.
In that way, Rylance’s character isn’t unlike Graham Moore, himself. The cutting, piecing together of scenes, sewing of storylines is as deliberate as the tailor’s construction of a suit jacket. In the end, the fit may not be perfect, but Moore has the makings of a promising apprentice. What seemed to begin as a run-of-the-mill noir knock-off quickly wooed me over, showing me it deserves to be in the same conversation as Guy Ritchie and Steven Soderbergh’s recent work. The Outfit isn’t merely a craft. It’s an art.
Acting/Casting - 2 | Visual Effects and Editing - 1 | Story and Message - 1 | Entertainment Value - 2 | Music Score and Soundtrack - 2 | Reviewer’s Preference - 1 | What does this mean?