One of the most compelling things about "The Outfit" is that it pivots on the intelligence and mystery of Oscar-winning Guthrie Theater veteran Mark Rylance.
Rylance plays Leonard, who makes suits (he prefers to call himself a "cutter," not a "tailor"). All the clients at his tiny Chicago shop appear to be mobsters, who not only pick up jackets but also drop off mysterious packages. One night, two enforcers show up, one of them bleeding to death and in need of a patch-up from Leonard. He reluctantly agrees but finds himself ensnared in a coverup when the man dies, anyway, and his frightening father wants to know where he is.
Almost entirely set in Leonard's shop and involving only a few characters, "The Outfit" feels very much like a play. Specifically, it feels like a play where the suspense comes from us knowing from the outset that something awful and violent is going to happen but not being sure exactly how it will play out.
The "how" has everything to do with Leonard. Rylance is in the meek-and-mild mode he brought to "Nice Fish" at the Guthrie Theater, his Tony Award-winning "Boeing Boeing" on Broadway and his Oscar-winning role in "Bridge of Spies" but he's such a versatile, canny actor that we're pretty sure there's more to Leonard than he's revealing. Is he really at the mercy of the mob? Or, while we watch him seem to get deeper and deeper in trouble with unsavory goons, is it possible that he's the one pulling the strings? Does he just make outfits or is he running the whole Outfit, as the mob is sometimes called in the film?
The fun is in watching Rylance sell both of those possibilities. Puttering around his claustrophobic shop, which somehow seems to be in both a basement and an attic, it's easy to think that Leonard's whole world is sewing on buttons. Johnathan McClain and Graham Moore's script allows him only occasional references to a personal life and Rylance keeps his speech and movement so economical that you could think he never leaves the shop. But then a subtle eye movement or forceful word makes you wonder what we're not being shown.
When Leonard jokes that he's a police informant, for instance, nobody believes him but the tension in the scene that follows comes from our realization that he'd be a great informant for that very reason. Rylance helps us see that shy Leonard is smart enough to know that being underestimated can work in his favor.
The 1950s-set "The Outfit" has some devious, "Usual Suspects" energy, especially when its tough guys are saying stuff like, "These are the last words you're going to hear, so I hope you remember them in hell." But it's not as strong as "Usual Suspects" because, instead of an ensemble of memorable characters, it really has just one.
The movie lags when Rylance isn't the focus but, fortunately, he is at center stage for most of "The Outfit." It's a much bigger part than he usually gets in movies and it lets him show why he's one of the finest actors we have.
'The Outfit'
*** out of 4 stars
Rated: R for bloody violence and language.
Where: Area theaters.
