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Review #439 of 365
Movie Review of The Lookout (2007) [R] 98 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $13.25
Where Viewed: United Artists Denver Pavilions Stadium 15, Denver, CO
When 1st Seen: 1 April 2007
Time: 4:55 p.m.
Film's Official Website • Film's Trailer
DVD Release Date: unscheduled
Directed by: Scott Frank
Written by: Scott Frank (The Interpreter)
Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Shadowboxer) • Jeff Daniels (Infamous) • Matthew Goode (Imagine Me & You) • Isla Fisher (Wedding Crashers) • Carla Gugino (Night at the Museum) • Bruce McGill (Elizabethtown) • Alberta Watson ("Angela's Eyes") • Alex Borstein (Little Man) • David Huband (Breach) • Laura Vandervoort (Troubled Waters) • Morgan Kelly ("Falcon Beach")
Soundtrack for The Lookout: Download now from 
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word or less review of this film]
Possessing the look and quirky feel of an indie film, The Lookout stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Jeff Daniels in a story that seems to borrow it's Midwestern, rural, isolated, edginess from the Coen brothers' Fargo but without the charisma and flawless accent of Frances McDormand. Oscar®-nominated screenwriter turned director Scott Frank's debut film is, nonetheless, a powerful and complex film that is gripping with a nagging sense of predestined fulfillment. Lately, it seems easier and easier to spot plots where it seems that the ending was decided in advance in the writer's mind and the story was written backwards to reach the ending. Whether this was the case with The Lookout or not, it has that feel all the way through. Former rich kid, high school hockey star, Chris Pratt (Gordon-Levitt) has his entire world and future instantaneously rewritten on an evening joyride with three friends all of whom are killed one night as he was driving recklessly with his lights off on a rural Kansan route and smashed straight into a combine abandoned, for some reason, in the middle of the road.
"…delivers on an emotional level…a powerful and complex film that is gripping with a nagging sense of predestined fulfillment…"
The accident leaves him alive to bear the guilt and burden of this event for the rest of his life, but also, with another traumatic scar, he has lost the part of his brain that allows for proper short-term memory functioning. Each character's role in his life after the accident seems put there on purpose to reach the climatic scene where Chris is forced to pay again for new crimes, only this time, he has his brain injury to fall back on in placing the blame. Getting past the contrived parts of the plot isn't difficult due to Mr. Gordon-Levitt's careful portrayal of this complex character. The physical villains of the story, as opposed to the mental villain, arrive in a pack headed by a shadowy strongman, Dennis Hopper wannabe named Cork (Aaron Berg) and his conman front man, Gary Spargo (Matthew Goode). The plan will be to take advantage of Chris's brain injury to rob the bank he cleans at night—the only job he can get when the accident destroys his ability to learn new tasks and keep track of what he's just done. A tiny spiral notepad becomes his new memory recording system. So, Gary sets him up from the very beginning, lures him in like a prized rainbow trout first with a willing girlfriend, former exotic dancer, Luvlee Lemons (Isla Fisher), and then with tales of power equaling money if only he had any. Artfully pushing all the right buttons, he soon as the morally and ethically confused Chris Pratt eating out of his hands. Everything points to things turning out badly, and even Chris begins to sense it himself. That's when he decides to get brave leading to things getting very messy and dangerous.
Other than the sense of contrivance to the plot, the film has another slight problem. The characters and the acting out of them are wildly uneven. It's ok that Joseph Gordon-Levitt seems to grow into his character, as it fits well with a person growing into this disability. Jeff Daniels, however, is playing a man who's been blind for a long time. Most of the time, he never seems like a real sightless person. There's just something about the way he doesn't look that alters credibility toward the downside. If you were fortunate enough to see Imagine Me & You which starred the English-born actor, Matthew Goode, playing a classically educated, bound to be rich, upper class, bachelor in hot pursuit of an eligible Miss, you'll be wowed by this performance where's he virtually unrecognizable both in physical and vocal appearance. On the other hand, there are Chris's cardboard cutout parents written as archetypes from which the actors never veer, and the unfortunate performance of Luvlee Lemons by Isla Fisher which was just too vacuous.
Undoubtedly, flaws aside, The Lookout is still a good movie, occasionally in spite of itself. The gruesome outcome pushed the boundary on what one might commonly accept for a story that teaches ethics and principles at the core. It does not rely on gimmicks or twists to satisfy, rather it hones in on the actual responses and attributes of the characters themselves. The film delivers on an emotional level and leaves one wondering why it took so long for Scott Frank to take a turn in the director's chair.
Other than the sense of contrivance to the plot, the film has another slight problem. The characters and the acting out of them are wildly uneven. It's ok that Joseph Gordon-Levitt seems to grow into his character, as it fits well with a person growing into this disability. Jeff Daniels, however, is playing a man who's been blind for a long time. Most of the time, he never seems like a real sightless person. There's just something about the way he doesn't look that alters credibility toward the downside. If you were fortunate enough to see Imagine Me & You which starred the English-born actor, Matthew Goode, playing a classically educated, bound to be rich, upper class, bachelor in hot pursuit of an eligible Miss, you'll be wowed by this performance where's he virtually unrecognizable both in physical and vocal appearance. On the other hand, there are Chris's cardboard cutout parents written as archetypes from which the actors never veer, and the unfortunate performance of Luvlee Lemons by Isla Fisher which was just too vacuous.
Undoubtedly, flaws aside, The Lookout is still a good movie, occasionally in spite of itself. The gruesome outcome pushed the boundary on what one might commonly accept for a story that teaches ethics and principles at the core. It does not rely on gimmicks or twists to satisfy, rather it hones in on the actual responses and attributes of the characters themselves. The film delivers on an emotional level and leaves one wondering why it took so long for Scott Frank to take a turn in the director's chair.
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Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
Other Projects Featuring The Lookout (2007)
Cast Members
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
• Jeff Daniels • Matthew GoodeIsla Fisher
• Carla Gugino • Bruce McGillAlberta Watson
• Alex Borstein • David HubandLaura Vandervoort
• Greg Dunham • Morgan KellyAaron Berg
• Tinsel Korey • Suzanne KellyBrian Roach
Writer / Director
Scott Frank
| DVD | VHS | |
The Lookout (2007) Review-lite [150-word cap]
Possessing the feel of an indie film, The Lookout stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Jeff Daniels in a story that seems to borrow it's Midwestern, rural, isolated, edginess from the Coen brothers' Fargo but without the charisma and flawless accent of Frances McDormand. Oscar®-nominated screenwriter turned director Scott Frank's debut film is, nonetheless, a powerful and complex film that is gripping with a nagging sense of predestiny. Undoubtedly, flaws aside, The Lookout is still a good movie, occasionally in spite of itself. The gruesome outcome pushed the boundary on what one might commonly accept for a story that teaches ethics and principles at the core. Relying not on gimmicks or twists to satisfy, rather it hones in on the actual responses and attributes of the characters themselves. The film delivers emotionally and leaving one wondering why it took so long for Scott Frank to take a turn in the director's chair.
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