The film, based on a novel by Elmore leonard, may have a body count, but it has no big gunfight scenes, no explosions, no highspeed chases. There is not even a linear storyline.

Out of Sight’s oddities are all part of its funky, low-key charm. Like Jackie Brown and get Shorty, which were also adapted from Leonard novels, Out of Sight offers an entertaining, off-beat and sexually charged alternative to the current run of formula-bound pictures.

Out of Sight casts george Clooney as jack Foley, a lunkheaded bank robber who has robbed more than 200 banks, spent half of his life in prison and refuses to use a gun. Curing a botched prison break, Jack is forced to take sultry federal marshall Karen Sisco (Jennifer Lopez) as his hostage and soon the two are making eyes at each other from opposite sides of the law. Eventually, it al leads to a diamond heist in Detroit, but the slight storyline is almost beside the point.

As in The Peacemaker and One Fine Day, Clooney continues to coast on charm, but that’s not to say his performance is all surface appeal. He makes great use of the vibrant screenplay by Scott Frank (who also wrote get Shorty). The actor plays the role with an ideal combination of ego, smarts and foolishness.

Slightly less successful is Lopez, whose curvy figure and sharp wardrobe do little to hide the fact that she is only marginally believable as a law enforcement officer. Where Lopez does convince, however, is as Clooney’s love interest.

Simply put, Lopez and Clooney create enough sparks to start a forest fire. Whenever their characters meet on the screen, it’s never clear if Karen is going to arrest Jack or take him up to her hotel room.

One of Leonard’s trademarks is his wide assortment of eccentric secondary characters. Among Out of Sight’s supporting players, Don Cheadle playing a crime kingpin, and Albert Brooks, as a corrupt businessman, could have been used to greater comic effect. But Ving Rhames and Steve Zahn come in right on target.

Rhames can always be counted on to supply plenty of deadpan laughs with even the weakest of screenplays (witness striptease) and here the actor has the added bonus of smart dialogue. His performance as jack’s guilt-ridden partner couldn’t be any stronger.

Likewise, Zahn, from That Thing You Do! And the Object of My Affection, is hilarious as a stoned loser who refuses to take off his sunglasses.

If Rhames and Zahn aren’t enough, there’s also get Shorty’s terrific Dennis Farina, playing Lopez’s father, and a couple of surprise cameos by characters from Jackie Brown.

As directed by Steven Soderbergh (sex, lies and videotape), Out of Sight could have used more punch. But Soderbergh understands that a Leonard film should be dialogue-driven. With the assistance of Frank’s screenplay, he adds a surprising richness to the film by letting the story unravel in a tricky, non-linear way.

Out of Sight doesn’t have Jackie Brown’s style or Get Shorty’s high laugh quotient. As a well- packaged diversion, however; Out of Sight fits the bill. It’s pure entertainment at its most offbeat and likable.