“THE LOOKOUT” (2007)

Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Matthew Goode, Jeff Daniels, Isla Fisher, Carla Gugino, Bruce McGill, Alberta Watson & Sergio Di Zio
Written & Directed by Scott Frank

Polly Staffle Rating: ***

Once upon a time, I woke up. I took a shower with soap. I ate breakfast and didn’t read the paper. No, no, no. Once upon a time, I woke up. I took a shower. I did not use soap. I used shower gel. Wait. Why am I telling you this? If I learned anything from Scott Frank’s “The Lookout,” it’s that you start at the end and work your way backwards. So, let me start over.

Once upon a time, I watched a film. It was a noir/crime drama called “The Lookout.” It starred Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Matthew Goode, Jeff Daniels, Isla Fisher and Carla Gugino. Scott Frank wrote and directed it. This was his directorial debut. Prior to this he was a successful screenwriter. He wrote “Minority Report.”

JGL (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) was good as usual. He played a young man named Chris Pratt, who was in a stupid teenager accident. He has some sort of brain damage and now has trouble functioning on a normal basis. He writes things down so he doesn’t forget them in a small notebook he keeps in his back pocket. He attends therapy. He cries a lot.

Chris always locks his keys in his car. He keeps an extra one in his shoe. He lives with his blind friend Lewis (Jeff Daniels). Everyone keeps saying Lewis dresses like Larry Flynt, but I don’t quite get the reference. He dresses more like Vito Spatafore from “The Sopranos.” Lewis calls himself and Chris “gimps.” Chris doesn’t like it. But Lewis is Chris’ support system. Without Lewis, Chris has trouble making something as easy as spaghetti for dinner.

Chris wakes up every morning. He takes a shower with soap. He eats breakfast. He skips reading the paper. He goes to class with others that have trouble coping with life. He visits the scene of the accident that changed his life. He meets with Janet. She is his female therapist played by “Spy Kids” MILF Carla Gugino. Chris wants to have sex with her and even tells her in more obscene terms. She turns him down. Other than Janet, Chris doesn’t have too much contact with females.

Chris works in a bank. He is a janitor. He wants to be a teller, but his boss isn’t sure he can handle it. Chris works the swing shift after the bank closes. He mops the place, replaces blown out bulbs in the bathrooms and anything else that needs done. Once a night, Deputy Ted (Sergio DiZio) comes by for a visit. He brings Chris doughnuts.

Chris is a wounded man. He keeps to himself. He is an observer. He is a thinker. Often he lives in his own past before the accident. He lost friends in the accident. He also lost himself. He used to be a great high school hockey player. He was popular and loved by his peers. He was a ladies man. To top it off, his parents are well off. Yes, Chris had the full package. He could have accomplished just about anything he wanted to in life. Now he can’t even remember what he did the day before. When asked in his class to write down a typical day, he can’t do it. He’s not quite as bad off as Leonard in “Memento,” but he is just as vulnerable and naïve.

One night after work while drowning his sorrows with a non-alcoholic breavage, Chris meets the no-good scumbag Gary, played exceptionally well by Matthew Goode. Gary is a smooth talker. He is an intimidator. He is a womanizer. He represents part of who Chris was. The pair become friends, or so Chris thinks. Besides being a lonely person, Chris also badly lacks self esteem. Gary knows how to play up to these needs. He tells Chris how he used to look up to him. He also offers him shoddy motivational speaker advice like “whoever has the money, has the power.” Then he sends in backup with a femme fetale in the form of stripper Luvlee Lemons (Isla Fisher).

Soon Chris finds himself “The Lookout” in a robbery of the bank he works at. He wakes up. He showers. He skips breakfast. He goes to work with the intent of stealing from his employer. Right before the robbery, Chris starts to have second thoughts. It’s too late. There’s no turning back.

“The Lookout” isn’t a movie about a robbery. It isn’t even about second chances or trying to fix things once we’ve screwed them up. This is a character study like “Jackie Brown” dressed up as “A Simple Plan” thriller. “The Lookout” is about a man named Chris that once had it all and now has nothing. He not only has to live with the fact he has nothing, but he also has to live with the fact that he is the reason he has nothing. “The Lookout” is about getting up every day and appreciating our lives for what they are – not what they were, what they could have been or should have been. It’s not about regret. It’s not about making excuses. It’s not about feeling sorry for ourselves. It’s about accepting who and where we are and doing our best to move forward.

Once upon a time, I watched a film called “The Lookout.” It was a good movie. Not a great movie, but a good movie with a little suspense and a solid message. As far as JGL films go, this one isn’t near as fantastic as “Mysterious Skin” or “Brick,” but it’s still a pretty solid addition to his resume. For those that don’t know, 26-year-old Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the real deal. He not only is the big screen’s next heartthrob a la Johnny Depp, but is the Robert De Niro or Al Pacino of Generation Y. And just to think, once upon a time he was known as Tommy Solomon on a cheesy sitcom called “3rd Rock from the Sun.”

- CCF, August 2007