DIRECTOR: Scott Frank
CAST:
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jeff Daniels, Matthew Goode, Isla Fisher, Bruce McGill,
Greg Dunham, Carla Gugino
REVIEW:
The Lookout is a decent little thriller that sets out with unambitious goals and mostly fulfills them. As the directorial debut of accomplished screenwriter Scott Frank (Dead Again, Get Shorty, Out of Sight, Minority Report), it’s a relatively modest effort that mostly does everything adequately and does a few things particularly effectively. The best things about it aren’t directly related to the thriller angle- a capable performance by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and the effective development of an individual struggling with brain damage.
Chris Pratt (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) was a high school hockey player until a grisly car accident left him with a severe head injury. Four years later, he has recovered enough to function day-to-day and lead a relatively normal life, but he has trouble with short term memory. He must write down virtually everything he does so that he remembers to do it, with post-it notes everywhere telling him which switches to hit and where things go. He’s not the same person he was before, although he wants desperately to be. His father (Bruce McGill) treats him with kid gloves, he’s had no relationships since, and his only companion is his older, blind roommate Lewis (Jeff Daniels), who has aspirations of starting a restaurant. One day at a bar he meets and hits it off with Gary (Matthew Goode), who lends him a sympathetic ear, claims to have gone to the same high school and dated his sister, and introduces him to an ex-stripper with the unlikely name of Luvlee Lemons (Isla Fisher). For a short time, it looks like Chris might have found a girlfriend and a social circle- until it turns out Gary wants to rob the bank where Chris works as a janitor and wants him to be the lookout.
The most interesting parts of The Lookout are the early scenes detailing Chris’ day-to-day existence, as we catch glimpses of post-it notes all over his apartment and follow him to classes with other people who have difficulties remembering daily activities where he takes lessons aimed at helping him keep things straight. In perhaps the most memorable scene, we see his attempt to figure out how to open a can end with him throwing drawers around the room in frustration. Also enjoyable is when Chris turns the tables on his would-be-cohorts after things go awry, especially when he repeats a lesson Gary drilled into him earlier: “whoever has the money has the power”. The bank robbery itself occupies a relatively small portion of the running time. When it is developing the character of Chris, The Lookout is on solid ground. From a thriller angle, it’s adequate but only mediocre, not groundbreaking or memorable. The screenplay, also by Frank, has a few holes- one character inexplicably suddenly drops out of the movie and is never seen or mentioned again, and the last few scenes are contrived and generic. The Lookout might be considered a thriller, but the character study aspect is much more interesting than the thriller side.
The best thing about The Lookout is Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who is proving himself a competent young actor and gives a solid, confident performance as Chris, who turns out to be more savvy than anyone gives him credit for (incidentally, at times he bears a hard-to-miss resemblance to his late 10 Things I Hate About You co-star Heath Ledger). Gordon-Levitt doesn’t overdo Chris’ brain damage and daily frustrations: he keeps it low-key and believable, letting subtle touches remind us that he’s a mentally and emotionally damaged individual. Matthew Goode is the kind of smooth-talking bad guy who can switch from charming to ruthless in the blink of an eye, while Isla Fisher is a little stiff as Luvlee (maybe this has something to do with her American accent; Fisher was actually born in Scotland and raised in Australia. For that matter, Goode is English, though you wouldn’t know it here). More intimidating than Gary is Greg Dunham as Bones, Gary’s right-hand-man, who dresses all in black, never removes his sunglasses or shows a flicker of any kind of expression, and speaks only about three brief lines (and those not until almost the end of the movie). He doesn’t talk much, and we don’t know anything about him, but we know he’s not someone we want to mess with. Jeff Daniels provides a little comic relief, along with a few more serious moments, and in small roles we have Bruce McGill as Chris’ father and Carla Gugino as his psychiatrist.
As a thriller, The Lookout is mediocre, moderately entertaining but not exceptional. Its more original qualities- centering on Chris’ daily routine- are what lend it some distinction, although overall what it has to offer is too uneven for it to really stand out. It’s not a bad film, just a somewhat undistinguished one.
**1/2
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