The Outfit

Starts out slow and unassuming. Nothing much happens at first. Is this another boring movie? No way.

The good: excellent acting performances. And a truly surprising and original story, which I did not see coming. Lots of twists that spun my mind. Really enticing to watch, with a shocking final.

Any bad? One has got to have the patience to bridge the first minutes of this movie, because at first looks this movie might seem a bit slow and even a bit boring, but that doesnt make it less intrigueing and surprising.

The story: a gentleman tailor is pressed by the mob, to hide an important briefcase in his premises. What is in it? And what dangers will come of keeping it?

This 'little' film very much has the feeling of a stage play. There is really only one set (the tailor Leonard's shop) in which everything happens. To go along with that, it has an almost claustrophobic atmosphere as the different Chicago gangster characters come and go, threaten Leonard and his receptionist Mable (nicely done by Zoey Deutch), argue, leave again. Leonard basically has to outwit them at every twist and turn (and there are lots of twists and turns), and that is about it for the plot. Add to that the fact that no one is entirely who they seem and we get a fascinating hour and a half of intense 'locked room' drama.

I wouldn't quite call this minimalist ("Wating for Godot" would classify as minimalist in my books). It's continually absorbing and yet built out of nothing but carefully rendered dialog. Mark Rylance is as always superb, he somehow builds a character out of measured dialog and changes in expression that might not be anything more than a raised eyebrow or a tightening of the mouth. Amazing to watch.

I first noticed Zoey Deutch in Before I Fall (2017) in which she was about the only standout. Nice to see that bigger and better roles are coming her way.

Saying anything more at all would give away too much since The Outfit is, in part, a mystery as well as suspense drama. Just go see it!

Greetings again from the darkness. Graham Moore won an Oscar for his screenplay on Alan Turing's life in THE IMITATION GAME (2014). Now he has directed his first feature film, one he co-wrote with Johnathan McClain. The final product is a bit unusual in that it takes place almost entirely in one spot ... a tailor's shop ... and features only a handful of characters. It's a film that would transition easily to the stage for live performances.

Mark Rylance (Oscar winner for BRIDGE OF SPIES, 2015) excels here as Leonard, a Savile Row-trained tailor now working his craft in his own shop in 1956 Chicago. His path from London to the windy city is a bit murky, but we immediately take note of Leonard's calm and elegant presence accompanied by his soothing voice. Rylance uses that voice as narrator to explain the intricacies involved with creating a man's suit, and the importance of reading the man prior to utilizing the 4 fabrics and 38 pieces that make-up the outfit. Leonard is also protective of Mable (Zoey Deutch, ZOMBIELAND: DOUBLE TAP, 2019), his assistant who dreams of traveling the globe.

An early montage shows us how the mob utilizes Leonard's shop for drops, and trusts him due to his 'see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil' demeanor. Leonard is one cool dude, and it's obvious we (and the mob) are underestimating him ... but we can't quite figure out why or by how much. One crazy night changes everything. Richie (Dylan O'Brien, THE MAZE RUNNER franchise) is brought into the tailor shop after being shot by a rival gang ambush. He's accompanied by Francis (Johnny Flynn, EMMA., 2020), and the dynamics between these two is quite interesting. Richie is the son of the Boyle family patriarch and has been seeing Mable on the side, while Francis is the favored employee after saving Roy Boyle (Simon Russell Beale) by taking gun fire. Richie is a whiny, spoiled wannabe tough guy, while Francis is volatile and constantly sneering.

What follows is a bit Hitchcockian. We have plot twists, murder, backstabbing, danger, and surprises. When it's discovered the Boyle family has a rat that is feeding details to the rival cross-town gang and the FBI, things get tense thanks partially to a MacGuffin audio tape. It all leads to confrontations in the shop, and some nice scene-chewing from Simon Russell Beale and Nikki Amuka-Bird as the leader of the rival gang. An elaborate plan by one of the characters is a pleasant surprise (to us, not the others). As Leonard points out on a couple of occasions, he's a "cutter", not a tailor - a distinction he takes as seriously as his skill with shears. The film's title has double meaning: the suits Leonard crafts, and the national syndicate that involves the Boyle family. Most of this we've seen before, but it's Rylance's portrayal of Leonard that offers a different look and feel. Fans of deceptive thrillers will find some joy here.

Opens in theaters on March 18, 2022.

The Outfit proves that you don't need a bunch of over paid actors and a huge budget to make a great film. A good script and solid acting works just as well. 7 stars.

The Outfit makes up for its few flaws with snappy dialogue, intriguingly layered characters, and some truly satisfying thrills and unexpected twists.

Certain bits of conversation will reveal quirks and backgrounds for every character, and it makes it easy to rally behind any one of them, in spite of their tangible flaws. The writing in this department is truly worthy of the highest praise.

The film's concluding twists reach quite a bit too far, requiring some logical leaps, mostly because they imply that some characters knew and predicted things that left far too much to chance.

But even though the story does stumble at the end, I was amazed at how engaged I was throughout the entire rest of the film, despite the whole thing taking place in three rooms. It's a pretty impressive addition to the tired gangster genre.