"The Lookout" Review

This little caper drama has been sitting on my shelf unwatched for quite a while; I vaguely remembered it was supposed to be good and I bought the darn DVD, so it was high time to give it a look. I'm glad I did.

The story is simple: Joseph Gordon-Levitt (aka the kid from Third Rock From the Sun) is a young man whose life is radically altered after a dumb auto accident leaves him brain damaged, but fairly functional. He rooms with a blind man, Jeff Daniels, and works as a night janitor in a rural Kansas bank. Targeted by a manipulative con man and his moll girlfriend (Matthew Goode, unrecognizable from his Watchmen turn as Ozymandias, and Isla "Mrs. Borat" Fisher), he gets roped into a scheme to rob the bank. Hijinks ensue.

What writer-director Scott Frank does well is fill The Lookout with well-observed and underplayed character touches. Since he's not working from previous sources as he did with Minority Report, Out of Sight, and Get Shorty, it's interesting to watch how he takes what could've been really flat stock characters and fleshes them out. Even the 3rd string accomplices pop with detail.

It's easy to see how a little film like this can fly under the radar at the box office or even on cable, but if you like well-acted quiet dramas, keep on the lookout for The Lookout. (Ooof! 1000 Gene Shalit Horrible Review Pun points for me!)

Score: 8/10. Rent it.