The Lookout

Joseph Gordan-Levitt is currently my favorite young actor. He is much more respectable than these other youth celebrities. But more importantly, he gets himself into much better movies. The Lookout is storytelling at its best. Though a touch predictable, you don't know exactly how things are going to turn out the way you know they are going to. Its Memento meets Brick; a young guy who has screwed up memory after an accident in which he was changed forever and now is trying to get his life back. All other actors delivered. No one tried to hog up the camera. It was gritty without being too blood-thirsty, dark but not lacking those special moments and intense but not making you feel like you are on a never ending roller coaster. One minute into the film, it didn't waste any time. 9/10 for me.

This quiet, understated drama-thriller may take a while to get going, but the characters are fascinating and Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Jeff Daniels have a wonderful chemistry that lends the film an unexpected heart. As a brain-damaged student and a blind wannabe entrepreneur respectively, their relationship is very sweet and would probably work well in a buddy comedy. There's a neat Fargo-like quality to a lot of the characters and dialogue and while it covers few locations it has that convincing small town feel. Gordon-Levitt is a night janitor at a local bank who's targeted by a gang and finessed into acting as a lookout while they rob it. Things - as they must - go wrong and he has to summon all the faculties of his fractured mind to save himself. Isla Fisher is quite revelatory in her small role. As Luvlee she's either rather dim-witted or incredibly cunning. Fisher's performance hints at the deeper recesses of her character but doesn't reveal what they hide. Luvlee is one of those rare characters where you find yourself genuinely hoping they won't turn out to be something other than what they appear. Ultimately there's something curiously redemptive about Gordon-Levitt's journey, where there really shouldn't be. It's a testament to the quality of his performance. Overall a satisfying drama with sustained tension and some fine performances.

I am shocked at the rave reviews this movie received from people I respect very much. I went in with fairly high expectations and was just bored to death. I found all of the characters unconvincing, though Daniels to a lesser extent. If the director's goal was to make Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character expressionless, he succeeded. Somehow, I don't think that was his goal. His character, Chris Pratt, communicated little inner conflict, guilt, remorse, anger. Frankly, I think this movie was just a case of bad directing or worse casting -- Pratt was a drone, Gary, the uber-evil bankrobber, was rote, predictable and unconvincing, even Pratt's parents were virtually blank. For me, no one in this movie effectively communicated the emotions one would think they should be feeling from scene to scene. The script was fairly solid and as I watched the film I kept telling myself who could have bailed out this poor directorial performance. I thought of the following ... DiCaprio as Chris Pratt (of course, they probably could not afford him) Liam Neasom in a cameo as Pratt's father Michael Imperiale (Sopranos) as Gary. The list of better choices goes on and on ... The film made me care little about Pratt, it did nothing to suggest a real connection was made between Pratt and his bank-robber girlfriend (hence, no conflict), there were no breakout scenes of discovery when the protagonist finds what people are up to ... It plain sucked. I would like to argue the merits of the film in a professional sense ... but, for me, this was a B-rate film. It is perhaps the only film I've seen in years that made me wonder what the b-roll looked like because -- to use a word from the film -- there was no "sequencing," no logical connect-the-dots a=b, which makes c, which causes d, and explains e...

I liked this movie but, without Jeff Daniels providing comic relief, it would have been insufferably serious. The young actors have lots of promise, though. Matthew Goode and Isla Fisher were creepily believable despite some obvious holes in the story (eg. what happened to Luvlee?). I think it would have worked better as a black comedy in the vein of "Fargo". The setting was certainly similar with that frosty white landscape speckled with blood, violence, and nasty language. Berg, as Cork, seemed to channel Willem Defoe. Where have I seen this character before? "Wild at Heart"? Ms. Fisher's sweet yet trashy and naive character stole the movie for me - complete with her Tinsley Mortimer hairdo. Overall, I've seen these characters and this story before. Still, it is interesting and worth an hour and 45 minutes of your time.

I was puzzled by the range of views about this film before actually viewing it. I correctly guessed that my interests were more closely aligned with those reviewers that rated it highly (thankfully.) Without having seen the trailer and not expecting a thriller, I was able to accept it for what I think it was intended to be...a character study of a damaged character. There were moments when I hoped the pacing would pick up, but for a directorial debut, it was awesome. The acting throughout was excellent. This deserves awards but that process has become too political to predict. If dazzling cgi and spectacular effects are not your measures of merit, you are going to enjoy this one.

In 2003, in Kansas, the popular and reckless high school hockey player Chris Pratt (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) goes to a party with his girlfriend and two friends on the backseat of his convertible through the old Route 24. In a moment, he turns the headlights off to admire the bright sky and has a tragic car crash. Four years later, his head injury still affects his memories and he uses a notebook to help him to recall his activities. He is no longer admired and works as night janitor in the Noel State Bank & Trust due to his mental incapacitation. He lives with his only friend, the blind Lewis (Jeff Daniels) that he met while recovering in a medical center, and helps him in the daily activities. When he meets Gary Spargo (Matthew Goode) in a bar, he is introduced to the sexy Luvlee (Isla Fisher) and has sex with her after a long period of abstinence. Chris gets closer to Gary, and sooner he is invited to help his gang to rob the Noel Bank. Chris is upset with his lifestyle and sees the chance to change his life, convinced that whoever has the money has the power. "The Lookout" is an excellent dramatic thriller, in spite of the common theme "bank heist. The screenplay builds perfectly the lead character Christopher Pratt from a successful and promising teenager to a frustrated mentally incapacitated and with remorse and guilty complex young man, with a total lack of professional perspectives and no-longer successful with women. The result is quite predictable, but the way the plot is disclose is amazing. The resemblance of the talented actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt with the recently deceased Heath Ledger is impressive. My vote is eight. Title (Brazil): Not Available

This movie was, it was stunning. I was fortunate enough to view it before it hit theatres, and, all I can say is GO SEE IT. It does not deserve the R rating, in my opinion. The director/writer and producer (who I met) worked very long and hard to find the right cast. And this film was made for a fairly low amount. The acting is spectacular, the script itself is stunning. The acting is amazing, the special effects were brilliantly done without being overdone, and even though it is a drama/thriller, it has heart. There were parts where I wanted to cry, and there were parts where I was holding my breath. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is brilliant in his acting and is perfect for the role, no one could have done it better. I highly recommend this movie.

What a contender for the awards on 2007? You should ask yourself - Joseph Gordon Levitt is ready! What an amazing and yes a solid film. Scott Frank, you are on fire with a grand grace to bring this writing to film! Also, this cast works and works in each and every scene. Each scene stands on it's own. And Scott 'gets' what he wants without a doubt. Matthew Goode just blew me away and you will not forget this complex character. Jeff Daniels, the pro, raises the standard that all of the cast must elevate themselves to! Go see this film for you will not be disappointed...

So you want a good heist film? See Dog Day Afternoon, as tense a study in botched robbery and kidnapping to come out of the '70's as any. Don't think the sweet Lookout will carry the same tension because it so heavily relies on the character exposition of its protagonist, Chris (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), that the heist is just an artful ending to an absorbing study of depression and rehabilitation. Chris, a rock-star hockey player in high school, terminates that celebrity with a reckless accident that leaves him impaired emotionally and physically. So he's easy prey for a gang that entices him to help them rob a rural Kansas bank, where he is a janitor. Up to the point of the gang contacting him, Chris tries heroically to perform actions in a logical sequence. But even his family, especially his father, is impatient with his arrested development, although they are generous in financially supporting him as he goes on the mend. Writer/director Scott Frank rarely lets Chris out of the frame, to good effect, because the actor and his lamentable past draw us into his narrow world in sympathy but not pity. Chris is determined to arrange his life in a sequence, with the help of his notebook and roomie, a blind and perceptive, bearded, guitar-playing Jeff Daniels, whose lines provide humor and balancing perspective as Chris slips into the heist. Both actors exude realistic, humorous, world weary personas that perfectly reveal the ambivalence Chris brings to this life-defining crime. The Lookout is a small film, released at dumping time right after the Oscars, but an invigorating study of humans under stress. It begs all of us to "lookout" where we are going, either on a lonely road with our lights turned off or in a plan to steal from farmers who have made life possible.

This is incredibly entertaining and solid piece of film making, by Scott Frank. The film travels on a road that its laid out for the audience to see steps ahead, but that never matters, b/c you are constantly in suspense over what will happen to the incredibly well drawn characters in the film. Frank also shows tons of directorial flair to accompany his writing prowess. The whole cast was amazing, Matthew Goode is completely unrecognizable and is perfect in the film. Jeff Daniels again dons a Beard and steals his scenes, every line of his dialog either makes you laugh, think or just compels the movie forward, and Joseph Gordon Levitt again proves why he is capable of being one of the next great movie stars. Go see this movie and tell your friends to do the same. This is the kind of film Hollywood should be making,