This would’ve made a fantastic play. The Outfit is a smart, witty crime thriller helmed by a delightful performance from Mark Rylance. Penned by Graham Moore, an acclaimed screenwriter and novelist whose previous work on The Imitation Game earned him an Oscar, alongside his writing partner Johnathan McClain, The Outfit feels like a crime novel come to life. Set in 1950s America and filled to the brim with intriguing twists and turns, the film manages to immerse you in the world of crime despite its singular location.
Mark Rylance is truly the standout star, and the reason to see this film. He plays a cutter named Leonard who used to make suits on Saville Row, but his mysterious past led him to leave his home country of England with nothing but his shears. He sets up shop in the crime-ridden city of Chicago but finds that his shop is frequented by the mob who order suits from him but also use his store as a front for their shady operations. This doesn’t bother Leonard though, as he doesn’t question what they do, and he gets to continue doing what he loves. However, when there is a rat in the mob who’s been selling information to the rival gang and the FBI, who’ve managed to gather a tape recording of incriminating evidence with the rat’s help, things go sideways. The mob manages to get a hold of a copy of the tape and plan to play it to try and discover the identity of the rat, however what if the rat is someone closer to the operation that they thought?
There’s a plethora of other delightful performances throughout the film too. Zoey Deutch, plays Leonard’s assistant Mabel, and the pair of them have this enticing chemistry on screen together, as they play a sort of makeshift family that’s the emotional core of the film. Then there’s the gangsters. Simon Russell Beale plays this godfather style figure, Roy Boyle, who clearly runs the town alongside his son Richie (Dylan O’Brien) and his lieutenant Francis (Johnny Flynn). All their performances are serviceable, never really eliciting fear in the viewer however as they didn’t feel as powerful or frightening as expected when we hear how dangerous the mob is. It also doesn’t help that there’s a performance from Nikki Amuka-Bird, who plays the rival mob boss, Violet, that immediately exudes this air of power and forebodingness that makes the other pale in comparison.
The film while a roller coaster when watching, feels overwrought for its own good. The plot is trying to keep you on your toes the entire time, with multiple layers of lies and deceit, all the time you’re trying to figure out the identity of the rat (which is probably the most obvious twist of the film). It goes past the point of realism though. As the film’s runtime powers on, the smarter the twists get, but at the finish line it seems to go too far and becomes far more fantastical that the plot had been building towards.
This is an issue partly due to the script but also the direction. This is Moore’s directional debut, and in that sense, this is a great first feature film. Yet that fact veers itself in multiple aspects of the film. the reason the writing never fully lands is that the film throughout is just tonally all over the place. There’s a delightful score from Alexandre Desplat, that while a wonderful composition, feels jarring and overused. The performances, while again all good, just felt like they belonged in different films at times. Was this film trying to be campy and fun, or a serious gritty noir thriller? It’s hard to say as it often flipped between the two, which is sad as the film would’ve been far better off if there was a consistent tone throughout.
The nature of the story never really lent itself to the most cinematic shots, with the film taking place in one small location, however the cinematography was just very flat throughout the entire film. The staging of the set that the film takes place in is clearly divided into three sections, yet this is never utilised in any interesting way. All three rooms felt distinctly similar, in both set dressing and lighting, which is disappointing since the film is already trying to battle keeping the film visually engaging while staying in the one location. It also felt like a missed opportunity to have most of the conflict happen in a singular room, as after a while it’s just not that stimulating to look at.
While The Outfit isn’t the most cinematic film, it’s certainly an entertaining one, prepare to laugh a lot at Mark Rylance’s expertly comedic performance. Fans of who dunnits will surely have a fun time watching this one, as you try to piece together the intriguing mystery on offer. If only the film was as delicately crafted as one of the suits Leonard makes, cause with that precision and craftsmanship this could’ve been a masterpiece.
★★★
