The Lookout

I don't think enough people have heard of this one or seen it this year so I'll bang out the plot.We have Chris Pratt our main character played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt who seems to be getting better and better with each role. Chris is your cool, tough, good looking, athletic, popular kid from a wealthy family with everything going for him who likes to push the limits. At the beginning of the movie Chris shuts off the lights of his car to show his girlfriend the lightening bugs with two other friends in the backseat and a bad car accident takes place.Now four years later Chris has all kinds of complications from the crash from his memory to his functions and thought process. Chris lives with Lewis played by Jeff Daniels who is blind. Daniels also does a great job and his character is funny and charismatic as he tells a joke at Chris's family's thanksgiving dinner, What do you call a mushroom that walks into a bar and buys everyone a drink? I don't know. A fungi (fun guy). Also his idea to open up a restaurant called Lew's Your Lunch because his name is Lewis. Lewis is a genuine good guy who cares about Chris.So, this star hockey player that was good at everything now works cleaning a bank. One night at a bar Chris is approached by Gary Spargo a con man that wants to use Chris's access at the bank. Chris is hesitant but wants his old life back like Gary says he can't give that to him but can give him power because whoever has the money has the power. Chris's selfishness, frivolity, and unappreciative way of looking at life makes him seem like the blind one and not Lewis. After this unfortunate accident that took Chris's previous life he is still lucky enough to be surrounded by good honest people like Lewis, the Cop/family man who brings him donuts and checks up on him, and the people he works with. Will Chris turn the lights on this time around before it's too late?The film has good performances all around and is a great crime story that keeps you interested from start to finish. Scott Frank who wrote this makes his directing debut, he originally wrote this script for David Fincher to direct but ended up doing it himself and does a great job. Frank has also written such scripts as Get Shorty, Minority Report, and Out of Sight. In an interview with Evan Jacobs of Movieweb Evan asks "What would you like viewers to take away from watching The Lookout?Scott Frank: I just want them to feel like they were told a good story. That to me is the most important thing, that they feel like they watched a story well told. Nothing would make me happier than people being engrossed in the story. I don't think there's any overt message I want to give so much as I just want to tell a rip roaring, good yarn."Well Mr. Frank you've told one good story.The Lookout is one of this years highest rated films on Rotten Tomatoes earning 87% positive reviews from 126 Film critics.**DVD BONUS FEATURES** (from the back cover)-Sequencing The Lookout Making-of Featurette-Behind The Mind of Chris Pratt-Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Scott Frank and Director of Photography Alar Kivilo

Superb character development, hauntingly beautiful soundtrack, excellent photography and a riveting story, with so many layers and characters you actually care about and will wonder about long after.It is also the first movie I have ever seen which goes beyond cartoon physics and cartoon physiology to present a true picture of traumatic brain injury. Movie heroes are constantly clubbed over the head, blown up and knocked out yet seconds later they are up and fully functional. They never go blind from the blow to the visual cortex, they are never let go from jobs they can no longer do. James Bond, for example, will never end up weeping at the sight of his face in the mirror or working as a night janitor for minimum wage because he is barely able to function.James Bond and his die-hard buds are live-action cartoon fantasy.In Real Life (from traffic accidents to falls on stairs, skateboards, bicycles, and icy sidewalks) and real sports (from high school football, hockey and wrestling to the NFL, NHL and WWF) things are very different. Head injuries have real and lasting consequences. Victims must cope with the overwhelming difficulty of daily routines ("I take a shower WITH SOAP") and the loss of the most basic skills ("I make the coffee -- if I remember to grind the beans first") that normal people do on autopilot.Former high-school hocky star Chris Pratt is one of the injured. He spends his days at an Independent Life Skills Center, undergoing cognitive therapy in hopes of restoring lost function. Lewis, his apartment mate and only friend provides brilliant contrast. Lewis has what we normally see as a handicap -- he is visually blind -- but he has a highly functional brain.The contrast is particularly vivid when Jeff returns home to find Chris utterly defeated by a can of tomato sauce; he couldn't find the can opener and tried to make-do with a hammer. It's also painfully clear when Lewis sharply interviews Luvlee whom he correctly pegs as very attractive. Waaaaay too attractive given the situation. "What are you doing here?" Blind Lewis sees something terribly wrong with this picture. Chris doesn't see a thing.Chris looks perfectly normal -- his physical wounds and scars are seen only in a shower scene -- but his brain is broken, and the obvious symptoms of that handicap mostly inspire impatience and derision.Or, as often happens in Real Life, they mark Chris as Easy Prey.A bartender takes advantage of a $17.50 tip on a $2.50 bottle of O'Doul's. And Gary Spargo sees him as the perfect patsy for a bank robbery.Gary is a predator and like most predators, his prey of choice is the weak and the helpless such as:-- Luvlee, sweet and kind ("There are 9 of us [for dinner]") but far from bright (she doesn't understand why they're feeding only 7). Luvlee is either too dim or too gullible to have a lot of options in life. Nevertheless, she takes Lewis's advice and finally asks the all-important questions: "How will this end?" and "What am I doing here?"-- A fragile old man. He shuffles down the hallway with his walker until stopped by Gary's menacing heavy, Bone. Who is he? Who does the house belong to? "A friend of a friend . . . " Bone, it seems, "negotiated" with the owners.-- Chris. Not only Easy Prey, but also conveniently employed as night janitor at an isolated small-town bank awaiting a huge influx of farm money.These threads combine as Gary tempts Chris with a beautiful girl and dreams of money, power, and independence. Then everything starts to unravel for a young man who is good at heart and cares for his friends, but cannot remember and cannot sequence."Naw, you sequence just fine," advised Lewis on the night of the tomato sauce disaster. "You just gotta start at the end and work backwards. You can't tell a story until you know how it ends."The end? Save Lewis. But how?Everything else flows from that and from Chris's own innate courage and decency. And of course, from a superb screen writer. I look forward to seeing much more of Scott Frank's work.As a side note: Some reviewers doubt that Chris would be able or permitted to drive. Do not doubt it. There are many degrees and variations of brain injury. One wonders if Chris the hockey star hadn't suffered a previous TBI resulting in extremely poor judgment (even for an adolescent) -- for example, thinking that speeding down a dark country road with no seatbelts and no headlights was a really cool idea. In fact, there's an extremely low risk of losing a license for anything short of the highly visible symptoms of grand mal seizures or repetitive serious traffic violations. Persons with less visible symptoms can and do legally drive forever (IF, as Gary Spargo points out, they can afford auto insurance that costs even more than their rent). I have several TBI patients, most of whom still drive. One prays for red lights just so that she can remember where she is and where she is going. Another I know of uses her cell phone to call her therapist before leaving for appointments. While driving she hits redial so when the office answers they can remind her of time and destination and guide her in.Many people should NOT drive -- but they do.For just how bad a head injury and functionality can be while still driving down a highway near you, google the excellent series on the Pittsburgh Steelers' Iron Mike Webster written by Greg Garber for ESPN. See also  Head Games: Football's Concussion Crisis from the NFL to Youth Leagues  by former WWF star Christopher Nowinski. See also  I'll Carry the Fork! Recovering a Life After Brain Injury  for one of the best descriptions of what "mild" traumatic brain injury really means.For how much better it can get, see  The Healing Power of Neurofeedback: The Revolutionary LENS Technique for Restoring Optimal Brain Function  by Stephen Larsen. A more technical work with research papers on neurofeedback applied to head injury, ADD, autism, and other disorders is  Lens: The Low Energy Neurofeedback System  by D. Corydon Hammond.

Collecting movies about the disabled as I do, I am delighted to have this. By FAR, most disabilities are not visible, but very much there. This certainly applies to this--and many other--disabilities. My doctor assures me that ALL American doctors are trying to achieve invisibility for ALL disabilities. My government assures me that LESS than two percent of the disabled are in wheel chairs. The rest of us just endlessly practice walking, so we look about equal to average. The personal can really get high: people accusing us of "faking disability"which would certainly be easier than actually BEING disabled, rest assured.This movie is just one example of looking fine without BEING fine.I am pleased to have it on my shelf, among many other variations of disability.

I have re-watched this film many times, and it never fails to satisfy. It is a masterclass in taught, perfectly balanced script writing and editing. The characters are fully three-dimensional and believable - terrific acting from Joseph-Gordon Levitt and Jeff Daniels - a revelation. Matthew Goode is the sexiest villain yet, also a switch for the actor usually seen in romcoms. The tension builds and never lets up until the startling and satisfying climax. One of the best, most underrated thrillers around.

Enjoyed this, I am a M GOode fan so seeing him as a rough thug a bit tricky, but he was good. Great actor and v underrated I think.

i absolutely love this film with its small town feel and characters that feel very real and all with that hint of tragedy that lands people in awkward situations. Brilliantly constructed plot. I've watched this several times and recommended it to several people. Love it.

highly enjoyable film about a once bright successful student whose life life becomes blighted from tragedy,and his road back to redemption and acceptance.

Great film got this as a Christmas present very reasonable price and the product was delivered efficiently overall very happy