Willa's Flic Pic: The Lookout * * ½

The Lookout
- Scott Frank
- Drama/Thriller, 2007
- R
- Trailer

* * ½

Lewis: Hello?
Chris Prat: Are you OK?
Lewis: I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?
Chris Prat: Because the lights are on. They're up there, aren't they?
Lewis: Just get out of here.

Of the five reviews I read about this movie, all but one gave it top praises. Not only that, they could say nothing bad about it. I tend to side with the one review that had some negative things to say but this still is a film worth seeing.

The story is not particularly unique although it's well told. Or maybe it was just that so much of the plot was predictable. Was it suppose to be that way? I don't know. If so then what's the enjoyment for the viewer? Of course, everyone knows the Cinderella story but they still love to hear it.

Although the four-out-of-five reviews credited everything to the story written by Scott Frank, I think the real beauty of this film is in the acting and filming. This was Frank's first time directing. If a director is to be given any credit to what the actor's produce, then maybe this is where Frank deserves credit.

Everyone puts in a fabulous performance. I wish I could mention everyone by name (I'm sure they wish I would, too.) Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Chris Pratt, a popular High School hockey superstar who is disabled after a terrible car accident. He rooms with Lewis, played by the wonderful Jeff Daniels, who is blind and helping Pratt to adjust. The story deals with the really low point of Pratt's recovery. He is depressed and seemingly hitting a wall on all fronts to make something out of the remnants of his life. He is racked with guilt about the accident, totally misunderstood by his family, and a lonely young adult male. This is the wrong time for the wrong kind of person to enter his life but that's exactly what happens.

With the caliber of performances Frank was getting out of his actors, I had the constant feeling that I wasn't getting enough story. Don't get me wrong. I don't like everything spelled out. I like the reality of actions speaking louder than words. But there was the feeling of things missing from Pratt's story. One female character completely disappears from the story in a confusing scene. There are undertones of a rivalry between Pratt and a player from a rival school team that was too vague. It was a tease. I liked the idea but the story never pursued it.

The filming is quite beautiful (in an artistic sense, not "scenic".) Most of the scenes are cramped and confined. which gives you the sense of how the walls are closing in on Pratt with little room to maneuver. It really works hand-in-hand with telling the story.

The Lookout isn't typical Hollywood fare and will make a descent Friday night rental.