The Lookout

I think The Lookout was in theatres, but I’m not sure. It was probably one of those limited releases that requires me to drive all the way downtown to sit in some shitty “indie” art house theatre with a bunch of foreign film fanatics sipping lattes and bemoaning mainstream cinema. This movie is not a foreign film and it’s not particularly artsy. It is boring and seemingly self-important, though, so it would fit perfectly in the above described scenario.

After looking at the DVD cover and reading the synopsis of the film, I thought I was in for some kind of noir-ish crime thriller. I usually like crime thrillers. I read a lot of Michael Connelly novels. I watch Law and Order and CSI and Bones and Cold Case and Without A Trace. This movie is not a crime thriller. It’s a story about retards doing retarded things. Please don’t be offended by my use of the word retard. I’m not referring to mentally challenged individuals, or individuals with an extra chromosome or other genetic aberrations; I’m referring to people who do stupid things even though they know better, or should know better.

The Lookout is directed by Scott Frank. This is Mr. Frank’s directorial debut. He wrote the screenplays for a couple of good movies, Get Shorty and Out Of Sight. He also wrote the screenplays for a couple of not-so-good movies, Flight Of The Phoenix and The Interpreter. This movie is one of the not-so-good ones. That’s just a little background information to let you know what we’re dealing with here.

Spoilers…but it’s funny, so read on.

The main character of The Lookout (Chris Pratt) is played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I’m glad he chose to keep his maiden name. This is the kid that was in that terrible movie, Brick. I won’t go on a tangent about Brick…suffice it to say that I hated it. So, Chris Pratt is this really popular high-school kid. He plays hockey and scores chicks. He has a really hot girlfriend. One night, Chris, his girlfriend, and two other friends are cruising down a dark, rural road in Chris’ convertible. He wants to show them some fireflies (it’s firefly mating season). While still driving, he turns off his headlights so they can see the brilliant display. He and his girlfriend reach into the air and try to grab some of the light. Are you getting what I said earlier about retards? Chris is speeding down an unlit road without headlights and with no hands on the wheel so he can impress his girlfriend. He smashes his car into a combine that is parked in the middle of the road. Retarded.

We are introduced to Chris a few years later. He has problems. The accident left him in a coma for a while. He suffers from irreparable frontal lobe brain damage. He is impulsive and has trouble sequencing events in his life. He lives with a blind guy named Lewis (Jeff Daniels). Lewis and Chris are pals. They cook dinner for each other and dream of the day when they can open a restaurant in an old gas station. Lewis wants to name the place, “Lew’s Your Food”. Ha ha ha…retarded. Chris is supported financially by his parents. His dad is a dick. He won’t loan Chris any money to start the restaurant.

An old high school acquaintance approaches Chris at a local bar and befriends him. This guy, Gary Spargo (played by Matthew Goode), looks like a chick but he’s supposed to be a tough guy. When the bartender tries to rip off Chris, Gary calls him on it. Gary introduces Chris to his friends. They have names like Cork, Bone, and Luvlee Lemons (Isla Fisher). It turns out that these playas are trying to get Chris to help them in a bank robbery. They choose Chris because he works as a night janitor at a small bank and he’s an easy mark due to his mental deficiencies. Chris hooks up with Luvlee but we don’t get to see her lemons.

Because all of the characters in this movie are retarded, the bank robbery attempt goes south. Chris is supposed to be the lookout but he decides at the last minute that he doesn’t want to help. A cop shows up and sees that something is wrong in the bank. Instead of calling for backup, he charges in firing his shotgun. Retarded. Cork dies, Gary gets shot, the cop dies, and Chris escapes in the getaway car with the money. Bone is pissed (he always wears sunglasses, so you know he’s hardcore). Gary and Bone kidnap Lewis to get the money back from Chris. Chris saves the day with some skillful plotting. He hides a shotgun in one of the money bags. Bone doesn’t check the bags when the exchange is being made because Bone is retarded. So, Bone gets blasted. Chris gets away with his part in the robbery attempt because Gary’s crew didn’t cut the security camera feeds. They thought they cut the video but they only cut the audio…retards. The video showed that Chris wasn’t helping them. In conclusion: restaurants get built and lessons are learned.