Film Review: "The Lookout"
By Erin Steele
March 30, 2007
It's likely that you've seen Scott Frank's work; it's even more likely that you loved it.
What's less likely, however, is that you knew you were watching a Frank-penned movie. In the land of cinema, writers are often the unsung heroes, crafting blueprints for directors and actors but rarely receiving enough credit for the powerhouse that results.
But the writer of such critically-acclaimed films as "Dead Again," "Get Shorty," "Out of Sight" and "Minority Report" is braving the role of director for the first time with "The Lookout," a noirish thriller that centers around Chris Pratt (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), whose life as a high school all-star crumbles after a tragic accident (which takes place in the film's exquisitely shot opening sequence). Afflicted with a serious brain injury, Chris struggles to remember the sequence of daily events and how to perform simple tasks, finally taking a job as a janitor in a small-town bank nearly two hours from his home.
It's there that he's spotted by Gary Spargo (Matthew Goode), a slick con artist with a trust-me smile, who uses an angel-faced ex-stripper (Isla Fisher) to entice Chris into his band of brothers. Before long, Chris is playing lookout in a planned bank heist, enthralled by Gary's philosophy that "Whoever has the money has the power."
The film is a surprisingly effective thriller, despite its Frankensteinian nature: Try to find a heist movie it doesn't draw from (though considering Frank wrote one of the best in "Out of Sight," he's largely stealing from himself -- and Elmore Leonard.) But in many ways, Frank places less emphasis on words, and lets the film tell its story through atmosphere: Almost no levity is glimpsed after the "The Lookout's" first few minutes, the major arc of its narrative viewed through heavy blankets of snow and shadows (and the fogginess of its main character's perceptions).
The melancholy mood works, as do the small doses of quirkiness provided by Jeff Daniels as Chris's blind roommate, Lewis. He's the film's oracle, blithely spouting truths about Chris and his environment, in-between lovingly verbalized dreams of opening his own diner (called Lou's Your Lunch.)
But "The Lookout's" biggest strength is Gordon-Levitt, who after paying his dues in a string of late-'90s teen flicks, proved his mettle as Brendan in last year's "Brick," a love-it-or-hate-it exercise in modernized pulp. Like Brendan, Gordon-Levitt's Chris is somber and withdrawn, but somehow subtly charismatic in his role as loner. He's a pro at playing wise beyond his years, and as Chris's knowledge of the unfolding events increases, Gordon-Levitt displays his increasing dread masterfully. It's to his credit that in a film as dark as "The Lookout," he keeps us hopeful for a happy ending.
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