The Outfit

The last time I saw Mark Rylance was in Don’t Look Up and for me, he was the worst thing about that movie, which was terrible. Maybe he was encouraged to act like that but, no. Just no. Thankfully, his performance in The Outfit has washed that performance right out of my mouth. I only wish the rest of the movie was as good.

The Outfit is about an English tailor. Wait, no, don’t call him a tailor. Leonard Burling is a cutter and he has a giant pair of shears to prove it. He has a shop in 1950s Chicago, and he makes suits. Expensive suits, so the only people buying them are gangsters. Normally, Burling just keeps his head down and pays no mind to the men going to the black drop box in the back of his shop. But one night, everything changes.

While there’s no denying that the well-tailored Outfit starts slowly, once it finally gets going the mystery is fun to work out. But it feels like it takes a long time to get there and with a run time of 106 minutes, it really shouldn’t feel that way. It’s also rather claustrophobic as it all takes place in Burling’s shop, and playlike, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but combined with the pace and location leave it a bit baggy.

My main problem lies in the performances. Well, just one performance, really. First, though, let me say that, again, Rylance is terrific. He was made for a role like this. His quiet voice, almost a whisper, is rather mesmerizing. He lulls you into believing everything he says is true. Simon Russell Beale is also excellent, giving my favorite performance as crime boss Roy Boyle. No, the problem I had is with Johnny Flynn as bad boy Francis. Now Flynn is hit and miss for me: the biggest miss that ever exists for his David Bowie in Stardust, and I didn’t care for him much in 2018’s Vanity Fair. I did, however, love him in Emma. Okay, more miss than hit, really. His work here as Francis is woefully bad. Okay, maybe he was just miscast but, boy, I just didn’t buy him or his accent. Let’s just put it this way, think of The Outfit as a play. If Rylance and Beale are working in the West End and Broadway, Flynn is over here working in the ill-advised high school musical version.