The Lookout (2007)

Directed by Scott Frank. Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Matthew Goode, Jeff Daniels, Isla Fisher, Bruce McGill, Sergio Di Zio, Alberta Watson, Greg Dunham, Carla Gugino, David Huband, Morgan Kelly, Aaron Berg. [R]

Once a high school sports hero before a car accident left him with with impaired mental faculties, Gordon-Levitt now lives with a friendly but sardonic blind man (Daniels) and works as the night janitor at a bank. Enter ominous Goode and flirty Fisher, who sink their hooks into him so he can help Goode and his crew pull off a bank robbery. Tense, entertaining neo-noir with a compelling angle skillfully covers its plot holes, generates convincing performances from most of the cast, and doesn’t waste time on too many superfluous details or overexertions of suspense; the way that one critical character is discarded around the two-thirds point is unsatisfying, but at least this cleared out the clutter for the climactic scenes. It is unfortunately a bit distracting to rewatch it now since Gordon-Levitt’s character is so frequently mentioned (in glowing deference) by his character’s full name: Chris Pratt—even Star-Lord would blush after a while. Feature directorial debut for screenwriter Frank.

79/100