The Lookout
| The Lookout | |
|---|---|
 Promotional movie poster for the film |
|
| Directed by | Scott Frank |
| Written by | Scott Frank |
| Starring | Joseph Gordon-Levitt Jeff Daniels Matthew Goode Isla Fisher Bruce McGill |
| Music by | James Newton Howard |
| Cinematography | Alar Kivilo |
| Editing by | Jill Savitt |
| Distributed by | Miramax Films |
| Release date(s) | March 30, 2007 |
| Running time | 99 minutes |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
The Lookout is a
Production
The Lookout is a directorial debut of the screenwriter Scott Frank. It was produced by Birnbaum/Barber, Laurence Mark Productions, Parkes/MacDonald Productions, Spyglass Entertainment, and Miramax Films. Miramax distributes the film in the USA, and Buena Vista International elsewhere.
The bank in the movie was filmed in the town of Hartney, Manitoba in Canada. City scenes were filmed in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Most notably, scenes of the skating rink were filmed behind the Millennium Library, and the exterior of Chris' apartment was filmed in the Exchange District.
Plot
While driving with his head lights off down a country highway, Chris Pratt (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), his girlfriend Kelly (Laura Vandervoort) and two friends crash into a stalled combine on the road, which results in Chris' brain damage affecting his short-term memory, and death of the two friends.
Four years later, Chris has to write things down to remember them. Chris works at the Noel State Bank & Trust as the night janitor. He aspires to work as a teller, but the bank manager, Mr. Tuttle (David Huband), does not think that Chris is capable. While cleaning the bank, Chris is watched by four men: Gary Spargo (Matthew Goode), Marty (Morgan Kelly), Cork (Aaron Berg), and Bone (Greg Dunham). Also, every time after his shift, a police officer Ted (Sergio Di Zio) comes by to chat with Chris and brings donuts. At home, Lewis (Jeff Daniels), Chris' blind best friend, makes Chris tell the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears backwards to help him with his sequencing problems, and Chris writes down "start from the end." Later, as Chris is sitting alone at a bar, Gary walks in and introduces himself.
Chris and Lewis go to visit Chris’ wealthy family for Thanksgiving. Lewis tells Chris' parents, Barbara Pratt (Alberta Watson) and Robert Pratt (Bruce McGill) about a gas station that he and Chris want to turn into a restaurant.
The next time Chris is at the bar, Gary and two girls walk in, and one of them, Luvlee (Isla Fisher), starts talking to Chris. The four leave together to Luvlee’s apartment, where Chris ends up sleeping with her. Afterwards, Gary invites Chris to a farm to have a late Thanksgiving dinner. At home, Chris tells Lewis about his recent experience with Luvlee and Gary, which makes Lewis suspicious.
Chris goes to the farm, where Gary introduces Chris to his gang. In the basement, Chris notices a board, which Gary says is a plan still in progress. Chris sees pictures and notes of banks and Gary says he needs his help because he is going to rob the bank Chris works at. Gary tries to convince Chris that he is still dependent on his family and others, which Chris does not acknowledge initially. Gary tells Chris that he can have his old life back and reinforces this with the phrase "Whoever has the money has the power." Chris starts noticing that he is dependent and agrees to take part in the robbery. Chris is told that he is the lookout and has to call Gary when money arrives at the bank.
In Chris' apartment, Luvlee talks to Lewis, who tells her that he used to cook meth, which blinded him. Lewis makes it clear that he had known plenty of "Luvlees" and "Garys", and knows that they are going to hurt Chris. Chris hears the entire conversation, and when Chris and Lewis go to a restaurant to eat, Chris loses his temper and says that he’s going to move out. Chris also tells Ted to stop checking on him. The next day, Luvlee packs up and leaves despite seeing Chris coming to her house.
On the night of robbery, Mr. Tuttle tells Chris that he noticed his improvement, and that he will try him as a teller. Subsequently, Chris tells Gary and his team that he does not want to take part in the robbery and will not tell anyone about it. However, Gary attacks Chris and tells him to do his job. After the safe is opened, Gary makes Chris retrieve the money because of the cameras. When Ted comes, he notices a suspicious activity, and a gun fight breaks out. Ted kills Marty and shoots Cork and Gary as well. However, Bone shoots Ted. Chris runs out leaving in the getaway car with the money.
Chris drives to his apartment, where Gary and Bone are holding Lewis hostage, so he goes to his family’s house and comes up with a plan. He puts a shotgun into one of the duffel bags, calls Gary and arranges a meeting at the ice rink to exchange the money for Lewis. Chris then drives to where his car accident was and buries the money. At the ice rink, Chris says that he buried the money but forgot where. Gary, who is bleeding to death, finds the place in Chris' notebook and tell him to dig it up. Chris hands Bone one of the bags, and just before Bone shoots Lewis, Chris shoots him. Gary then dies on the ground.
Chris is cleared of all charges because he returns the money, confesses, and the camera footage shows that Gary forced Chris to participate. Chris and Lewis open their planned restaurant, although Chris' impairments make giving change difficult. Chris starts to ice skate again. Although he knows that his life is still limited, he has accepted it and is willing to move forward.
Cast
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Chris Pratt
- Jeff Daniels as Lewis
- Matthew Goode as Gary Spargo
- Isla Fisher as Luvlee
- Carla Gugino as Janet
- Bruce McGill as Robert Pratt
- Alberta Watson as Barbara Pratt
- Sergio Di Zio as Deputy Ted
- Greg Dunham as Bone
- David Huband as Mr. Tuttle
Reception
From critics the film has earned an aggregated score of 87% at Rotten Tomatoes (124 reviews),[1] 73/100 at Metacritic (32 reviews),[2] and "B" at Yahoo Movies (13 reviews).[3] Particularly favorable reviews came from Richard Roeper and Leonard Maltin, who praised the film as "the best movie" so far in 2007.[4][5]
As of September 8, 2007, the film's score at the Internet Movie Database is 7.5/10 from about 6,900 users.[6]
External links and references
Footnotes
- ^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lookout/?critic=columns
- ^ http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/lookout?q=the%20lookout
- ^ http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809427239/critic
- ^ http://bventertainment.go.com/tv/buenavista/ebertandroeper/index2.html?sec=6&subsec=the+lookout March 23, 2007 episode of Ebert & Roeper
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20070427071816/http://www.leonardmaltin.com/picks.htm#TheLookout
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0427470/
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