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Chris Pratt (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) was once the most popular guy in school. He was good-looking and outgoing and rich and athletic. The whole world, it seemed, was his. But one night, it all came to an end with a tragic car accident that left him with a serious head injury.
Four years later, Chris is still trying to adjust to his new life. He goes to school every day, but the simplest things are a challenge for him—like writing about what he does on a typical day or even finding the can opener in the kitchen. He has to keep a notebook in his pocket so he won’t forget appointments or names or important tasks. At night, Chris works as a janitor at a small bank—where he hopes, some day, to be trained as a teller. After work, he goes to the bar, where he drinks a non-alcoholic beer by himself before going home to the apartment he shares with his only friend, a blind man named Lewis (Jeff Daniels).
One night at the bar, Chris meets Gary (Matthew Goode), who claims to know Chris from high school. The next night, Gary introduces Chris to a beautiful girl known as Luvlee (Isla Fischer). Chris finally feels like he has a real friend—and a girlfriend, too. But then he discovers Gary’s plan to rob the bank where Chris works. Though Chris doesn’t want anything to do with the robbery, Gary convinces him that it’s just what he needs to finally get his life back. After all, he tells Chris, whoever has the money has the power.
At first glance, the premise of The Lookout may seem a little bit like a rehashing of Memento—a guy with a head injury trying to get his life back. But this suspenseful drama has no problem standing on its own. It builds slowly, but every minute of it is spellbinding. Granted, it’s not without its share of flaws and minor plot holes. I’ll admit that I had a difficult time accepting the fact that a kid with a serious head injury (one who needs a note by his bed to remind him to turn off the alarm) would be given a driver’s license. But the rest of the film has so much going for it that it’s easy to overlook a few flaws.
The story, despite a glitch or two, is a powerful one that grows more and more suspenseful with each passing minute. And the acting is remarkable. Though it doesn’t really come as a surprise, Daniels once again proves himself as a talented artist. And Gordon-Levitt shows that he’s more than just that kid from 3rd Rock from the Sun. After seeing him in both this film and Brick, I have no doubt that the former child star has a great career ahead of him. Both Daniels and Gordon-Levitt build solid characters that help to turn the good story into a great movie.
DVD Review:
Call me a film snob if you want, but some of my favorite movies so far this year were the ones that practically no one saw in theaters. Take The Lookout, for instance. While there may be a couple of plot holes to endure, it’s a magnificent film with an absolutely brilliant cast. So if you missed it in theaters, I highly recommend checking it out on DVD.
Included on the disc are two making-of documentaries. “Sequencing The Lookout is a 20-minute feature discussing the ten-year process of making the movie—from writing to casting to filming. Since The Lookout is a character-driven film, there’s also the 10-minute “Behind the Mind of Chris Pratt,” which focuses entirely on Joseph Gordon-Levitt—and the work that went into creating his character. If you were as impressed as I was by Gordon-Levitt’s performance, you’ll find the feature interesting.
And although I’ve never really had the patience for audio commentaries, the commentary on The Lookout is worth checking out if you’re interested in the process of filmmaking. On it, first-time writer/director Scott Frank and director of photography Alar Kivilo give some interesting insights while discussing the challenges of making the film and their regrets.
Though the DVD of The Lookout isn’t packed with special features, the few it has are worth checking out. They do a pretty good job of complementing an already outstanding film.
