What you call things matters.  For example, “fast food” is often neither, but you’ve already lowered the bar by calling it something that sounds like it shouldn’t be examined too closely.  Likewise, you could call The American “slow” and it would kind of seem like it.  Or, you could call it “atmospheric” and it would seem like that.  Also, you’d be a person who says “atmospheric” so you’d have that in your back pocket.

Said atmosphere is set by Anton Corbijn, who made many of the iconic images that made U2 icons.  So I was going to go no matter what, but then it turned out to actually be good.  Violante Placido is a big part of why.  In a pretty cliché hooker role, she goes beyond the limitations and creates a person you care about.

And Clooney is so Clooney that you could easily take him for granted, but that would be a mistake that I will now save you from making.  He mostly just walks around and waits on phone calls and places phone calls and looks up the street.  But he makes you care about that stuff.  This is a lot more Up in the Air than Ocean’s Whatever, but dude can do both and do them very well.  In other words, he can do Taco Bell and also The Bristol, if you know what I’m saying.