Scared of Poo

I walked into The Lookout hoping for a clever thriller surrounding a bank hiest, luckily for me I was right and got more than I expected too, which is always nice. So lets see what the film is all about….

A former high-school hockey star handicapped in a tragic car accident becomes an unlikely ally to a crack team of determined bank robbers in this thriller starring Jeff Daniels and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. When his promising career on the ice is suddenly cut short, former athlete Chris Pratt (Gordon-Levitt) goes to work as a janitor in a local bank. Cleaning floors soon gives way to criminal enterprise when the onetime puck-slinger is recruited to help clean out the very bank that employs him. Screenwriter Scott Frank (Out of Sight and Minority Report) makes his directorial debut, working from his own original screenplay.
- Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

So yeah it sounds very thriller like, but the film has so much more going for it, it has the emotional and mental turmoil that Chris (Gordon-Levitt) has to go through to try and be “normal”, the differences in the character’s life are explained quite effectively via a couple of flashback sequences and it does make you both feel for and pity him throughout the movie. A key scene for me was the Thanksgiving scene as it showed the frustration that Chris has in regards to things being different from what they were, it is a moving scene.

One thing I will say is that to a certain extent the poster for the film makes it seem like a full on action film (in the same vein as Smokin’ Aces), but no its a slow building but damn entertaining movie. Also the poster almost suffers from “Floating Head Syndrome”.

The film just has a quality to it, it may be the excellent acting from Gordon-Levitt, the great comical presence from Jeff Daniels, the character driven story or just its appealing visual style. The end result is that the film is just good, if you havent seen it, I’d recomend doing so.