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Lookout, The
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 33 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 43 votes
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Crime | Drama | Suspense/Thriller
Written by: Scott Frank
Directed by: Scott Frank
Release Date:
Theatrical: March 30, 2007
DVD: August 14, 2007
Running Time: 98 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: R for language, some violence and sexual content
Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jeff Daniels, Matthew Goode, Isla Fisher, Carla Gugino, Bruce McGill, Alberta Watson, and Alex Borstein
This intelligent crime drama is centered around Chris (Gordon-Levitt), a once promising high school athlete whose life is turned upside down following a tragic accident. As he tries to maintain a normal life, he takes a job as a janitor at a bank when he ultimately finds himself caught up in a planned heist. (Miramax Films)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell
If you enjoyed any of Frank's previous work, or thought "Brick" was the bomb, you'll love this.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Robert Wilonsky
Gordon-Levitt's worth the admission all by his lonesome. He's that good--the proverbial young man with an old soul who brings unexpected depth, complexity, and sincerity to what could have been just another damaged-guy role. He's the one to look out for.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
The Lookout is Frank's show. He's crafted a haunting and hypnotic film that transcends pulp by creating characters that get under your skin.
Read Full Review >USA Today Claudia Puig
Rarely does a first-time director make as auspicious a debut as Scott Frank has done with the haunting, engrossing and intelligent thriller The Lookout.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
The Lookout's thriller elements could stand to be more surprising, but they're ultimately in service of a better understanding of the characters. Usually, it's the other way around.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
Nobody can play stupid better than Daniels – think "Dumb and Dumber" – and, as it turns out, few can play smarter. He's a sharp asset in a sharp movie.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Ella Taylor
The Lookout is funny, tender and littered with elegantly written characters played by actors cast for goodness of fit rather than star wattage.
Read Full Review >Variety Joe Leydon
A stealthy neo-noir drama that isn't afraid to take its time developing characters on the way to the payoff of a neatly designed caper scenario.
Read Full Review >New York Magazine David Edelstein
Frank's writing is razor-sharp, his filmmaking whistle-clean. As a fan of sharp razors and clean whistles, I enjoyed The Lookout--yet I did feel let down by the climax, which ought to have been blunter and messier and crazier and more cathartic.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
A writer's thriller. True, it's cleanly and efficiently directed, and it showcases some crackerjack acting, but the reason it's a real pleasure to watch is that a writer's sensibility is the foundation everything is built on.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
We saw what Mr. Gordon-Levitt could do in such diverse films as "Mysterious Skin" and "Brick," and in the TV sitcom "3rd Rock From the Sun." But this performance is something else. It's unforgettable.
Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
So refreshingly straightforward that at first you may not know what to make of it.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
A sensitive coping drama after all, while still serving up that noirish heist flick with comic flourishes. That's some range, and in 99 succinct minutes too: Most pictures would be lucky to do half as much in twice the time.
Read Full Review >Premiere Glenn Kenny
With his directorial debut, screenwriting stalwart Scott Frank concocts a compelling variation on a reliable film noir convention.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
Exactly the right length. That sounds like faint praise, but isn't it rare? Many movies drag past the points where they should stop; others end abruptly, leaving you to wonder at things unexplained or unconcluded.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
Promises minor pleasures and delivers them. In the process, it's gracious enough to kick in a few extras: a nifty central gimmick, a self-effacing lead performance, and a big slice of ham from supporting actor Jeff Daniels .
Read Full Review >TV Guide Staff (Not Credited)
A smart, engrossing thriller in which you care as much about the characters as the crime.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
Though The Lookout is eventually a genre film, with a tense, bang-up ending, it is also a thoughtful study of a young man trying to make sense of a world that he is having to learn all over again.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips
Frank's dialogue owes a little something to Elmore Leonard, but it's less comic and heavily brocaded.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
More of a leisurely paced ensemble character-study than the slam-bang traditional action gut-buster that its trailer seems to promise.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Matt Zoller Seitz
Mr. Frank’s screenplay for The Lookout was long considered one of Hollywood's great unproduced scripts. The end product doesn't justify that buildup...Still, there's a lot to like here, and the film's bleak setting and empathetic tone add interest to what could have been a by-the-numbers affair.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
The way Frank structures and directs this film, it's too predictably "unpredictable."
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Josh Rosenblatt
The Lookout marks Frank's directorial debut after years of working as a screenwriter on movies like "Get Shorty" and "Out of Sight," and though his new movie may lack the sexual tension and bubbly wit that elevated those films to rarefied heights, there's a newfound, and not unwelcome, sobriety to his writing.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Bob Strauss
The Lookout boasts some very interesting, original performances. They make this noirish, bank-heist caper intriguing, but in some ways they actually work against making it believable.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
The movie's anti-climatic resolution in concert with the holes left by the occasionally untidy script result in The Lookout not living up to its promise. Compared to some of Frank's past projects, this is a tepid offering.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Ann Hornaday
The dour, downbeat story eventually spirals into grisly Grand Guignol and contrivance. Still, Gordon-Levitt is superb, and Jeff Daniels delivers a wry and wily performance as Pratt's blind roommate.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Mark Bell
It is worthy of your time, simply because of the brilliant acting and the first and final acts but... the middle of the film feels like an endurance challenge.
Read Full Review >Empire Alan Morrison
Plot holes and a mixed tone lessen the impact but Gordon-Levitt holds it together with a strong lead performance.
Read Full Review >New York Post Kyle Smith
Combines the sweet strangeness of "Fargo" with the existential panic of "Memento" and some Elmore Leonard tough talk. It all creates a cinematic tummy ache.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
A thriller that wheezes along on bits and pieces of ''character.''
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.8 (out of 10) based on 43 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Stuart M gave it a10:
This is a wonderful character development movie with enough action in the plot to make it work. You get a great understand of the characters and it really draws you in. Plus the advanced scout team got this movie all wrong. It was about dealing with brain trauma, and not a revenge of the nerds type movie. The movie shows how Chris is completely fine yet can never have his old life again. It is about Chris' dealing with his accident and how cruel, ruthless, and manipulative people can be.
Paul W gave it a4:
The look and feel of this movie is that of plastic and so was the acting of many of the young actors including that of leadsman Joseph Gordon-Levitt who's performance was skin-deep throughout the whole ordeal, never showing us anything other than confusion or acted frustration. Jeff Daniels was the only actor able to put some weight into his role as Chris's blind roommate Lewis, the only 'real' character in this movie. At no point during this movie I was even slightly entertained and with it's formulaic plotpoints failing to give this film some momentum and absence of clever dialog, the viewer is rocked asleep like a baby.
Ash p gave it a2:
How anyone can give this film a semie decent score is unbelievable. It laughable plot hinges on someone with memory problems, who regualrly locks himself out of his car, being trusted with the keys to the local bank. The resolution is just insulting.
Dave N. gave it an8:
Slow, but effective. The acting, script and cinematography are all superior. Somehow, this movie got almost no "buzz" when it came out, but it's worth seeking out as a rental.
Nick A. gave it a9:
In 1998, George Clooney co-starred alongside then-pop-diva, Jennifer Lopez, in 'Out of Sight,' a film by Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh. The film was hailed by critical masses as one of that year’s best and received two Academy Award nominations, one of which was for its screenplay, which was adapted from the same-titled Elmore Leonard novel by screenwriter Scott Frank. Since then, Frank has accumulated quite a resume – one that includes writing credits for Spielberg’s critically-acclaimed box office smash, 'Minority Report,' and the star-studded Hollywood satire, 'Get Shorty' (also first a novel by Elmore Leonard), which was released prior to 'Out of Sight,' in 1995. However, Frank had never taken a stab behind the camera – not until 'The Lookout' – and, basing his talent as a director on this film, I wonder why. Chris Pratt had everything. Once a teenage prodigy, Pratt (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) was the star of his high school’s hockey team, raised in an upper-class family, and was the apple of every girl’s eye. One night, while driving with his girlfriend and two others, Pratt lost it all to a terrible car accident. Now the janitor of a small town bank, Pratt struggles daily with physical and mental consequences of that night. Feeling psychologically abandoned by his family, and without friends, Chris finds his only company in a middle-aged blind man named Lewis (Jeff Daniels), whom he shares his apartment with. Yearning for more in life – a more respectable job, female companionship – Chris is left vulnerable to Gary (Matthew Goode), a con whose intentions are to rob the bank at which Chris works. Pratt forms a friendship with Gary and even falls for a former-dancer named Luvlee (Isla Fisher), herself a friend of Gary’s. “Whoever has the money has the power.” Unfortunately for Chris, Gary is power-bent, caring not for a friendship with Chris, but rather for Chris’ access to the bank’s vault. As previously acknowledged, Frank’s writing ability is boundless, and 'The Lookout' will only increase the realization of that fact. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is captivating as the tormented 24-year-old, delivering a profoundly emotional performance that will sneak under your skin and tear itself out by film’s end. Daniels is convincing as the blind friend, whose life experiences have evolved into wisdom, which he volunteers to Chris. Daniels is also the film’s comic relief, which, actually, gives this already thrilling film some much-appreciated charm. In her brief screen time, Isla Fisher provides a supple romantic subplot and entices with her sexy character, Luvlee. Matthew Goode, as the malevolent mastermind behind the impending robbery, delivers a riveting, completely absorbing performance. In fact, don’t be surprised if you find his name on the nominee list, next to Frank (for his screenplay), come Oscar time. 'The Lookout' is a compelling study about the effects of past mistakes and the consequences that come with such, enthralling because of its broken protagonist, its gripping, crime-toting side-story, its talented cast and its fine-tuned dialogue. As one of 2007’s most inspired, lucidly scripted motion pictures, Scott Frank’s directorial debut will soon be regarded as a classic and may do what last year’s 'Little Miss Sunshine' did when February rolls around. “Whoever has the money has the power.” Well, for the price of a rental – or, if you’re feeling over-zealous, the DVD – you can experience this powerful example of a well-constructed movie.
Hal B. gave it an8:
A breath of fresh air amidst the usual summer rehashing of action-thrillers. A bank heist movie that is about so much more than a robbery. A character-driven plot with an excellent script, cast, locations and photography. This little gem should not be missed, except by numbskulls simply looking for another cheap thrill. Gordon-Levitt and Matthew Goode are superbly cast in the leads; with great supporting turns by Isla Fisher (remember her from Wedding Crashers?) and Jeff Daniels. Even MadTV's Alex Borstein has a nice little part... And watch out for "Deputy Doughnut"!
Patrick C. gave it an8:
The movie isn't perfect. Sure Levitt is out of character at times and Daniels might not be blind but the movie is enjoyable. The movie has the right mix of suspense and drama to get you invested in the characters. At the end of the movie you'll be happy you went and even hopeful that Levitt with continue his film noir streak. Brick was great, The Lookout is good hopefully his next film will be perfection.
