Lookout, The

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I was never much of a "3rd Rock from the Sun" fan, and so the leap that Joseph Gordon-Levitt has made from that silly sitcom to this engrossing character study seemed to me like a hop across the Grand Canyon. Maybe the difference lies in the script. "The Lookout" is billed as a "gritty, high-tension crime thriller," but it's as offbeat and intelligent as "The Usual Suspects." In fact, about 20 minutes into the film I picked up the Blu-ray box to read the back, thinking, When does the bank heist come in?

It does, of course, but we never lose sight of the fact that the story is really about the rehabilitation of a brain-injured young man named Chris who, despite being unable to perform such simple tasks as opening a can, ends up being recruited to be the "lookout" for a robbery at the bank where he works as a night janitor.

Writer Scott Frank ("Minority Report," "Get Shorty") decided to direct his own screenplay, this time--a first for him. Although on the commentary track he says, "Welcome to another episode of How the Rookie Director Screwed Up and introduces director of photography Alar Kivilo as "the man who saved my bacon," the truth is that this first-timer has crafted a film that a director would be proud of if it were his 20th attempt.

Frank's script and solid performances make "The Lookout" engrossing, but the unexpected dry humor makes it fun. Much of the wit comes from the character of Lewis (Jeff Daniels), a gently acerbic blind man whom the rehab center has paired with Chris. The men share an apartment, with Lewis reminding Chris to do this or that, usually with his tongue-in-cheek. It's the kind of attitude that I suspect many people with disabilities wish the rest of the world had. Lewis recognizes both his and Chris's limitations, but that doesn't stop him from teasing Chris or treating him the way he would any other person. When they're on-camera together, you can really feel a bond between them and buy into each of their injury-induced conditions. Both Daniels and Gordon-Levitt really grab onto their characters and inhabit them for the whole 99 minutes.

Once we do get to the heist, some of the standard conventions creep in, like the long-haired gunman with the long black waistcoat (Greg Dunham) or the friendly deputy sheriff who brings donuts to Chris every night he's at work. The former is the film's amoral baddie, while the latter is marked for trouble from the minute you hear him talk excitedly about his pregnant wife. But it all comes together nicely, and though the film meanders, you never get too impatient with it because the focus is on Chris and his world. Showing all of it only reinforces the complexity of his simplified life, and gives us a round character rather than a flat one. We see the flashbacks Chris has to when he was a high school hockey star, and flashbacks to that night when he drove his car at top speed into a stalled columbine. We watch him interact with the woman assigned to be his case worker, and we see how he interacts with his wealthy parents ("I smell money," Lewis quips as he's brought there to dine for the first time). Veterans Bruce McGill and Alberta Watson do a fine job as Chris's parents, who haven't still quite figured out how to relate to him as well as Lewis has.

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