By: Andrew Wing

The Outfit is a 2022 American crime drama film directed by Graham Moore (best known for writing the screenplay for The Imitation Game) in his directorial debut from a screenplay by Moore and Johnathan McClain (who wrote multiple episodes of the AMC television series Mad Men). The film stars an ensemble cast including Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies, Dunkirk), Zoey Deutch (Why Him?, Zombieland: Double Tap), Johnny Flynn (Lovesick, Stardust), Dylan O’Brien (Maze Runner trilogy, Love and Monsters), Nikki Amuka-Bird (Avenue 5, The Personal History of David Copperfield), and Simon Russell Beale (Into the Woods, The Death of Stalin).

The plot centers around an English tailor, or, as he prefers to be called, a “cutter”, (Rylance) in Chicago whose primary customers are a family of vicious gangsters.

The film had its world premiere at the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival on February 14, 2022, and was released in the United States on March 18, 2022, by Focus Features.

THE GOOD

I’ll be honest, I was not with the majority when the first trailer for The Outfit came out. I don’t know why, given all the big names that I liked that were attached, but maybe it’s just the fact that there have been some bad crime drama films over the past couple of years. Anyways, once The Outfit hit theaters, it was getting generally favorable reviews everywhere, so I started to get more excited about it. I unfortunately never got around to seeing it in theaters, but once I saw that it was coming to the Peacock streaming service, I knew I had to check it out ASAP and write a review for it. So with all that said, was The Outfit yet another in the long list of failed crime drama films over the past couple of years, or was it a surprisingly good addition to the legendary genre of film? Keep reading to find out!

Let’s not waste any time, The Outfit was awesome. Sure it had its quips that I’ll touch on later in the review, but it was such a breath of fresh air for the genre and it honestly felt like something we haven’t seen before. Yes, it takes place in Chicago in the 1950s with all the typical mobs and crime bosses we’ve grown accustomed to, but all the surrounding elements were unique to me. And a big reason for that was what we got here from Graham Moore in his directorial debut. I was super impressed by Moore, and it says a lot about him as a director and a writer that he was able to make a movie that literally takes place entirely in a tailor shop for 106 minutes, and still have it be a good product at the end of the day. His direction here was great, but his writing alongside co-writer Johnathan McClain was even better. I’ll talk about some problems I had with the script, but it was still solid. Every time I thought I had this film figured out, it kept turning the tables on me and kept me in suspense, and I don’t know about you, but that's what I truly want from a script, to not know what is going to happen next, and they executed that.

As good as the direction and the writing is in The Outfit, it is undoubtedly carried by the performances. I’ll touch on all of them, but we need to start with the star of the show, and that is Mark Rylance. Rylance is an Oscar-winning actor thanks to his unforgettable performance in Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies, and I honestly thought he should’ve garnered another nomination last year after his downright hilarious performance in Adam McKay’s comedy Don’t Look Up (see Ted’s full review here). In this though, Rylance plays a more subtle and laid-back character with a lot hiding underneath the surface. Despite that, he conveyed all of his emotions just as you would expect an actor of his caliber to do before the final third of the film where he captivates you by releasing everything he has been keeping on the inside. Simply put, the man is a legend and he continues to kill it.

The second-best performance in The Outfit and definitely the most impressive for me was Johnny Flynn’s. I had never even heard of or seen this guy before watching this, but man did he make it so I won’t forget him. His character is a badass, and his accent was pretty sick too, but yeah I thought he really stole the show here. I also really liked Zoey Deutch’s performance here as the shop receptionist, Mable, and it was weird to see her not being in a comedy film like she often is, but she definitely showed her wide range of skills as an actress.

Continuing with the performances, I just need to highlight both Dylan O’Brien and Simon Russell Beale who play father and son in this. First, with O’Brien, I know he caught a lot of crap after the Maze Runner trilogy even though I thought he was fine in them, but after last year’s surprisingly fantastic Love and Monsters, and now this, I think he is back on the right track and I’m sure he will start giving us more great performances. Now with Beale, he was so good in this as the Irish Mob boss. I mean he is certainly intimidating given his stature, but he was such a nice addition to the already awesome cast. Side note, speaking of Beale, if you haven’t seen The Death of Stalin, go do yourself a favor and watch that. His performance in that is freaking phenomenal and the movie itself is hilarious, and it’s easily one of my favorite films from the last decade.

Lastly, you know I had to touch on a couple of the technical elements when it comes to The Outfit. First, I loved both the production design and the costume design. As I said, the film takes place entirely in the tailor shop, but I was totally fine with it as it looked very nice and it really put us in the film’s setting. Also, to add to the feeling of being in the setting, the costumes were fantastic and I mean if they weren’t that would’ve been a problem given the film follows a tailor. And finally, the score for the film was superb. It was composed by Alexandre Desplat, so I am not surprised at all that I loved it as he is arguably one of the best film composers of all time thanks to his legendary scores for films like The King’s Speech, Argo, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and The Shape of Water.

THE BAD

There is no denying that this film is a good one. It’s a great addition to the crime drama genre of movies as I already mentioned and I would recommend it to anybody. However, there are just a couple of things that held it back from reaching that truly upper echelon of crime drama films. Its biggest flaw in my opinion and I hinted at it when discussing the screenplay, was I think its overabundance and overreliance on twists. It was a great asset in spots, but I also found it to be its biggest problem. Now I know I just mentioned I like scripts that keep me guessing and keep me on my toes, but this overdid it because it pushed my suspension of disbelief past a certain point if that makes sense.

Two other small things that took some points off of the film were first, its slow pacing in the first third. I don’t know, I was into the story at the very beginning, but it stayed pretty slow for the first 25 to 30 minutes, but it eventually got going and it was worth the wait. And two, I would’ve liked to see Zoey Deutch’s character either have a more prominent role in the film or just more screen time. It would’ve been tough given that the film was already 106 minutes long and it shouldn’t have been any longer than that, but I just liked her character and I thought she could have brought more to the film.

THE VERDICT

Graham Moore’s directorial debut, The Outfit, is a smart and gripping crime thriller that is a worthy addition to the crime-drama genre that has been weak for the past couple of years. Moore’s screenplay will most definitely keep you guessing, sometimes to a fault, but there is no debating that the film is carried by some awesome performances, its brought-to-life 1950s setting thanks to the production design and costumes, and a marvelous score from the legendary Alexandre Desplat.