Review of The Lookout (2007) by Joel M — 29 Sep 2008

Lookout for the coolest flick of 2007! That would be Writer-Director Scott Frank's "The Lookout". Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as Chris Pratt, a former high school all-star hockey player who caused a fatal crash that killed two of his friends, crippled his girlfriend, and left him with short-term memory impairments.

"The Lookout" eyes Chris four years after the accident. He is a night janitor in a bank who rooms with a blind man and must constantly write down his daily tasks in a petite pad so he does not forget his responsibilities; it is a very similar pad to the one that my wife gave me but the sad fact is that I do not have Chris' impairment.

So let's talk about "Memento" MMM! Maybe, I do have it! Ouch! Anyway, Chris befriends a shady but suave character in Gary Spargo. Chris starts to confide in Gary so much that eventually Gary convinces Chris to be a "Lookout" in a bank robbery that Gary's crew plan to pull off at the bank that Chris works at.

Chris also is seduced by a free-spirit beauty named Luvlee. Yes, you heard right! Chris loves her so much that he takes her to Karaoke and starts singing to her "Isn't She Luvlee?" OK, so that was not in the script but it would of have been lovely.

Luvlee turns out to be a pawn in Gary's brinks job master plan to convince Chris to be on the "lookout". The ensemble acting of "The Lookout" is worth looking out for. Gordon-Levitt, formerly of the TV series "3rd Rock From The Sun, rocked as the contrived Chris.

I was not blinded by the wonderfully whimsical performance of Jeff Daniels as Chris' blind roommate Lewis; "eye" wonder why Daniels was not nominated as Best Supporting Actor. Mathew Goode was, well, definitely good as the manipulating Gary.

And Isla Fisher is la right actress to portray the stupendously voluptuous Luvlee. However, to be frank with you the real hero of "The Lookout" was Scott Frank! His orchestrated vision of "The Lookout" should have been looked at more vigilantly by the Academy because it was worthy of Oscar nominations.

"The Lookout" is one that you should lookout to move to the top of your Netflix query list! ***** Excellent.