The Lookout

Most crime films these days have elaborate plots and expensive special effects, said Stephanie Zacharek in Salon.com. The Lookout, by contrast, 'œis so refreshingly straightforward that at first you may not know what to make of it.' Chris (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a brain-damaged janitor in small-town Kansas, gets duped into cooperating in a bank heist. That may remind you of 2001's Memento. 'œBut unlike Memento, this isn't just a puzzle-movie stunt.' Writer-director Scott Frank creates a convincing exploration of what it's like to struggle with a mental disability. But The Lookout's no made-for-TV weepie, said David Edelstein in New York. Frank, who wrote the screenplays for both Get Shorty and Out of Sight knows his way around a crime caper. His knack for dialogue creates idiosyncratic characters that actors can sink their teeth into. The Lookout's nothing more, or less, than 'œa nice, tight genre piece with people you like watching.' Brit Matthew Goode convincingly plays the smooth-talking American who masterminds the plot, said Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times. Isla Fisher's funny and frightening as the former stripper who seduces poor Chris. The film's most 'œunexpected character,' though, proves to be Chris' hilariously opinionated blind roommate, played by Jeff Daniels. Gordon-Levitt's 'œquiet, unaffectedly sympathetic performance' makes sense of the whole understated ballet of bad intentions, riveting our attention as he attempts to overcome his own limitations and his false friends.

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