"Out of Sight" is another film based on a novel by Elmore Leonard, as is Get Shorty and Jacky Brown. And all three films are marked by their smartness, punctuated by innovation and excess.

The characters are larger than life. Jennifer Lopez, for example, plays a Federal Marshall with the wardrobe of a fashion model. Sexy, smart, and tough, Lopez is always in control, except when it comes to romance, where she's a proper ninny.

The protagonist is George Cluny, a very elegant bankrobber with getaway problems that find him in prison, and inevitably into the gaze of Lopez. Then begins a crazy romance. Supporting the lunacy is Ving Rhames as the guilt-ridden thief who calls his sister to unburden his conscience after every crime. His sister, whom we never meet, is a devout Christian who, in turn, feels called to convey the information to the law. And so it goes. A wickedly overdone movie, the characters leave behind stereotype, reality, and even credibility to opt for a greater being, a kind of heroic unbelievability that makes them both charming and exciting.

But if the characters are marked by excess, then the plot decidedly plethoric. Pandering to postmodern trends and audiences who demand more than mundane action adventure flicks, the story unfolds on two timelines. Director Steven Soderbergh employs freeze frames to segue from scene to scene, almost as if the narrator says, "hold that thought" while another filament is woven into the mix. So the first scene is actually the middle, but by the end we've been shown the beginning, so the puzzle fits together with ease.

So there's a lot to like in "Out of Sight. " The story is engaging, the characters agreeably eccentric and the action keeps you wondering how things will unfold, right to the last minute. Plus, the clever style of the film creates a narrative attitude that is complex and yet clear, conveyed by an engaging storyteller. A romantic action flick with a difference, I like this film a lot.