| Thursday, March 15, 2007 |
| Look out! |
I'm usually a sucker for a twist ending. If a movie or book is promoted with some form of, "You won't BELIEVE what happens!," I'm there. I rushed out to see films like "Million Dollar Baby" and "The Crying Game" before the spoilers became common knowledge. My dad did me a huge favor by renting "Psycho" when I was a kid so I could have the experience of watching it without knowing Norman Bates' secret. Unfortunately, I read a review of the ultimate twist-a-rama of the last decade, "The Sixth Sense," that gave away the ending; when I finally saw the film, I found it to be a plodding bore. Was there anything to that movie besides the twist?
There are no twists in "The Lookout," the debut directorial effort by Scott Frank, who has won acclaim for his screenplays ("Out of Sight," "Minority Report," "Get Shorty"). It's a good, solid thriller, beautifully shot and well-acted, and yet a lot of the time, you know exactly where it's going. I went into the theater knowing absolutely nothing about it and yet I often felt like I was a step ahead. A teenage boy is speeding recklessly down a deserted road -- there's going to be an accident. A new gun is shown off -- well, you know what they say about a gun in the first act. One character is so clearly doomed he might as well have been wearing a red shirt.
And yet, I was completely captivated by "The Lookout," which says something about Frank's skills as a filmmaker. The film has a strong sense of place (it is set in Kansas, though it was shot on the more northerly plains of Manitoba) and several fascinating characters. The protagonist, Chris Pratt (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), is a former high school hotshot whose head injury has given him a life far different from the one he expected to lead. He goes to class to learn basic skills, lives with a wise and sardonic blind roommate named Lewis (Jeff Daniels), and has a night job cleaning a small-town bank. A bank! That couldn't be a potentially-important plot point, could it? Hmm...
One night, Chris, hanging out in a bar after work, is befriended by the charismatic Gary (Matthew Goode), who takes him under his wing and introduces him to a new, fast crowd, including a hot ex-stripper named Luvlee (Isla Fisher). Chris loves feeling special again and hanging out with bad boys and cute girls is decidedly more exciting than cooking spaghetti with Lewis at home in their dingy apartment. But the new friendships bring Chris much more than he bargained for. Remember, Chris works in a bank. At night. Alone.
The ending of the film is genuinely suspenseful, even if you can guess where things are headed. Gordon-Levitt, who spent his teenage years in the sitcom "Third Rock From the Sun," gives a sensitive performance as a disabled young man trying to struggle through each day. He carries a little notebook around in which he writes down anything he needs to remember; at home, everything is labeled to help jog his defective memory ("TAKE KEYS; LOCK DOOR"). Sometimes, frustration gives way to anger and depression, as when Chris can't find a can opener and trashes the kitchen as a result. You really get a sense of what it must be like to live with such a condition, and it's sensitively handled.
Jeff Daniels is great as Lewis, who is the voice of reason in the film. I just wish I could remember the difference between Jeff Daniels and Jeff Bridges. They're both really talented actors. Maybe Bridges = "Big Lebowski," Daniels = "Dumb and Dumber"?
"The Lookout" will be released on March 30. If you carry around a little notebook with you, jot this down: "GO SEE 'THE LOOKOUT'." |
posted by 125records @ 10:25 PM  |
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| 10 Comments: |
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Oh, man ... I love J. G.-L. -- Brick and Mysterious Skin were two of my favorite movies of the past few years -- but I get SO STRESSED OUT watching "bad choices cinema" as I like to call movies like this ... I'll probably still see it though ...
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I just wish I could remember the difference between Jeff Daniels and Jeff Bridges.
Yeah, even within the same post!
Quotes:
sardonic blind roommate named Lewis (Jeff Bridges)
Jeff Daniels is great as Lewis
Too funny!
I have the same problem...
yoxtq! yoxtq!
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I've made the correction because it was Jeff DANIELS in "The Lookout" and I want to give him the credit he deserves! Now can someone please explain the difference between Bill Paxton & Bill Pullman?
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If you like Jeff Bridges check out Jonathan Demme's film Something Wild--to me its his best role. And, now that I think about it--another bad choices movie.
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The statute of limitations on twist endings is a month or whenever it comes out on DVD. I haven't seen The Crying Game or Sixth Sense but I need to know the twists to be in on the cultural references.
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Sorry, Jeff H, but it's Jeff Daniels who is in SOMETHING WILD! Daniels is also terrific in TERMS OF ENDEARMENT, THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO, THE SQUID AND THE WHALE, IMAGINARY HEROES and GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK. I've had the pleasure of interviewing him several times and he's also a genuinely funny, honest guy.
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Prior to starring in HBO's BIG LOVE, Bill Paxton tended to be in action-oriented films like TWISTER, ONE FALSE MOVE, NEAR DARK and ALIENS. Bill Pullman specializes in comedies, like RUTHLESS PEOPLE and SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE, although he also played Geena Davis' war-wounded husband in A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN, the alien-battling President in INDEPENDENCE DAY and the not-so-nice guy Jodie Foster dumps in favor of Richard Gere in SOMMERSBY. Paxton has never completely lost his Texas/Oklahoma regional accent; Pullman usually sounds very East Coast.
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Thanks Cult of James--can't believe I said Jeff Bridges--I know
who Jeff Daniels is! He's one of my favorite actors--it just pains me to see him known as the guy from Dumb and Dumber-a complete waste of film in my opinion.
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Here is Albuquerque's most famous local character:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Schrader
http://www.dukecityfix.com/index.php?itemid=1586
Note that the second article is entitled "Chronicles of a Pee-Drinking Naked Man"
neal
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The Pajama Men, one of our local comedy groups (who are actually really funny), proposed a sequal to The Sixth Sense. The main character is a guy who thinks he is dead but actually he isn't. When you look back at the movie, you understand why he keeps walking into walls and furniture and refuses to interact with all the people around him.
neal
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Oh, man ... I love J. G.-L. -- Brick and Mysterious Skin were two of my favorite movies of the past few years -- but I get SO STRESSED OUT watching "bad choices cinema" as I like to call movies like this ... I'll probably still see it though ...