On the Lookout

The Lookout, by Scott Frank, is an indie star studded crime thriller that I have been dying to see since it came out in April-ish. But for some reason, despite the hype its distribution was short and tight. So finally, it is on DVD and I got to see it.

A high school hockey star jockey boy gets himself and 3 other people in a serious car accident on the day of their prom where two of them instantly die and the hockey jockey gets physically and mentally injured. He resumes his life in guilt, going to a school for mentally disabled and working as a janitor of a bank until he gets enticed by a group of bank robbers to join their heist... The rest would be a spoiler...

My initial reaction is disappointment, unfortunately. Between three people watching the movie, we know what was going to happen next. It was too predictable and too cliche. It is really tough to keep the pace and mystery yet make it relate-able, which David Lynch has done such a good job with in Mulholland Drive.

The Lookout, to its credit is able to keep a very good pace and consistently deliver with amazing shots, great camera angles and solid character development. The cast is mind blowing (which was THE reason why I wanted to see this movie soo bad). Joseph Gordon Levitt from the Brick and Mysterious Skin, Jeff Daniels from The Squid and the Whale, and Matthew Goode from Match Point. And they definitely deliver to the point.

As I said, the biggest disappointment is the cliche ridden script where every 5 minutes you say "No you didn't!!!" or "Yeah, I haven't seen this in 20 other movies before or anything."

So your call... I can't give it thumbs up or down. I want to give it a solid 7.