TMS Movie Review: The Outfit
(Nick Wall / Focus Features)
This past weekend I had the rare occasion where I went into a new movie release completely blind. Up until last week, I had never even heard of Graham Moore’s new indie mystery The Outfit, and had zero expectations on the quality. In the end, I came out thoroughly impressed and enjoyed the viewing experience. I don’t think I’ve had that kind of first viewing since Aaron Katz’s Gemini (2017) five years ago. In many ways, this might be the best way to watch a movie fresh on your radar, so you can come up with your own consensus without any outside influences. For The Outfit, despite being familiar with retro crime flicks as a genre, the lack of exposure to the film helped me legitimately not see some of the twists coming.
The title, The Outfit, refers to two things in the story. One is our lead, Leonard (Mark Rylance) being a modest, ordinary tailor working in 1950s Chicago after leaving home in England. The other is that a sector of the mafia is referred to by slang as ‘the outfit,’ and some of Leonard’s clients are indeed, mobsters. One night the older man discovers his young secretary, Mable (Zoey Deutch), is casually dating one of the young gangsters he sews clothes for, Ritchie (Dylan O’Brien). Only a day later, Leonard and Mable get caught up in a messy mix-up with Ritchie and his cousin, fellow gangster, Francis (Johnny Flynn).
(Nick Wall / Focus Features)
When the credits started rolling at the end of The Outfit, I mentally exclaimed, “Finally! Zoey Deutch made a good movie!” For someone with as much beauty, charm and connections as Deutch has, it’s shocking how beyond mediocre her career has been for nearly a decade. But she fits in right here and holds her own against an Oscar winner [Rylance]. O’Brien shows he is a natural with the old timey crime aesthetic, and Flynn—who I’ve had some reservations about possibly being singer-songwriter eye candy—proves he does have dramatic range on film. Rylance is stellar unsurprisingly and Moore has potential to officially crossover from novels to cinema if he wants to. Unfamiliar with Moore’s writing career, I see his resume consists of three novels, an Academy Award winning screenplay for Morten Tyldum’s The Imitation Game (2014) and—amusingly—an episode of ABC Family’s short-lived spin-off “10 Things I Hate About You” (2010). Here as both screenwriter and director with The Outfit, Moore makes great use of only three rooms in one building for the sole locations of the entire plot. Very much resembling a play on camera, these kind of dialogue heavy set-ups can be easily basic and boring cinematically. But Moore successfully captures suspense and builds mystery working with so little.
For a lowkey, entertaining movie experience this spring that’s not too challenging and guarantees a mellow audience, The Outfit fits the mood.