Ill-Prepared

The new movie The Lookout is, in my opinion, an only somewhat above average film. But whoever was responsible for its marketing campaign has done it a real disservice.

Perhaps you've seen the trailer in the last few weeks. If you did, the catch phrase "whoever has the money has the power" no doubt stuck in your head. And if you're like me, you got the impression that this was basically a "heist" movie. Perhaps not an elaborate one, but a heist movie nonetheless.

Wrong. It's actually a very quiet and methodically paced character study about a young man struggling to overcome guilt and minor brain damage in the aftermath of a major car accident. He happens to become caught up in the plans of a group of criminals, who take advantage of his shaky memory and use him in their planned bank robbery, which frankly is not clever enough to call a "heist" -- nor is that the intended point of the movie.

Expecting a suspenseful little caper, it took me a good half hour of "waiting for something to happen" before I finally readjusted my expectations and started to take in the drama I was seeing. The writing is nothing dazzling, but Joseph Gordon-Levitt delivers a pretty good performance in the lead role, and Jeff Daniels is strong as an interesting supporting character. The movie doesn't really make any profound statements about putting one's life back together after a tragic event, but it paints a pretty good portrait of this single character, and makes his life interesting for the 100 minutes you spend with him.

Capable, but without much in the way of especially good moments to point to, I give the film a C+. Perhaps with expectations properly set going in, I might have better enjoyed it from the opening reel and given it B- instead. It's too late for me, but maybe this will help someone out there thinking of seeing the movie.