DVD Review - The Lookout

Screenwriter Scott Frank has made an impressive directorial debut with The Lookout. It is an intelligent thriller that is also a good character study.

Chris Pratt (Joseph Gordon Levitt) is a down on his luck janitor. A few years ago he was in a bad car accident. He was left disabled and two people died. He was in a coma and has trouble remembering things. He lives with a blind man named Lewis (Jeff Daniels) who he met at a rehab center. Chris is a janitor at a bank and he would like to work at something else. But whenever he tries to talk to his boss he gets the brushoff. One day he meets a man named Gary (Matthew Goode) at a bar. He also meets a woman named Luvlee (Isla Fisher) who he falls for. Gary offers a way out of the doldrums. He offers him the opportunity to be the lookout when Gary and his friends rob the bank that Chris works for.

I won't tell you anything more about the plot. Some of it is suspenseful and some of it is predictable. Some have compared it to Memento but the latter is a better film. The acting by Levitt, Daniels and Goode is top notch. And the film held my interest. The film got raves when it played in theaters earlier this year. And while not as good as some of the critics have said (especially Richard Roeper) I still think that The Lookout is worth a look on DVD.