Title – The Outfit (2022) 

Director – Graham Moore (feature debut) 

Cast – Mark Rylance, Zoey Deutch, Dylan O’Brien, Johnny Flynn

Plot – Operating a shop in Chicago after moving over to America from England, well-regarded tailor/cutter Leonard (Rylance) gets caught up with a bunch of local mobsters on one fateful evening that will transport his quiet shop into the venue for life and death games of cat and mouse. 

“I want so bad to be good”

Review by Eddie on 05/07/2023

The low-budget feature debut of writer turned director Graham Moore, The Outfit came and went without much fuss upon release in early 2022 but this single location set mobster thriller that works mostly off intense dialogue exchanges and character beats is worth making time for, even if it’s unable to become the genre masterwork it might have been. 

Set in Chicago of the mid 1950’s where Mark Rylance’s unassuming cutter (don’t call him a tailor) Leonard runs a small corner shop where his best clients are some of the cities less law abiding citizens, The Outfit finds Leonard’s little abode overrun by mob players like Dylan O’Brien’s Richie and Johnny Flynn’s Francis as a briefcase containing a very sort after item lands in the shop, setting about a night of twisting and turning between characters that will have many viewers wondering what is coming next. 

While not the type of mob thriller that is going to appease those seeking tommy guns and baseball bats, Moore ensures that despite The Outfit’s isolating setting inside the walls of Leonard’s shop there’s not many dull moments in the film as Rylance’s charismatic screen presence is in full effect and Moore and Johnathan McClain’s script keeps things tight and moving along in most places with much of what happens in The Outfit familiar but delivered with a different type of spin threading it all together, giving the film its own unique identity. 

Unfortunately for the film unlike the best of the best films set in mostly single locations with loaded ensemble casts, such as heavyweights 12 Angry Men, Dog Day Afternoon and The Breakfast Club, The Outfit doesn’t get a whole lot out of the characters supporting Leonard and as we get to the latter stages of the film much of Moore’s exemplary staging and set-up of motivations and movements comes undone with a final act that starts to unravel when examined in greater detail and Moore’s film ends up being a fine low-budget affair but one that won’t stick long in the memory. 

Final Say – 

Far more interesting than many other films from 2022 that garnered more significant time in the spotlight, The Outfit is a well-made mob thriller with a difference and another fine showcase for its star and main attraction Mark Rylance, who elevates proceedings even when things go off the rails. 

3 pairs of fabric shears out of 5