This weekend I chose to see The Lookout, NOT Blades of Glory. I had free tickets to see Blades of Glory and I still didn't go. That's right. Not even for free. I did love Anchorman, but I didn't want to taint my perspective of Will Ferrell after watching Stranger than Fiction. I'll wait till it's on video.
The Lookout wasn't as impressive as I expected. For Scott Frank's directorial debut, he did pretty well. But Frank didn't give the actors, especially Joseph Gordon Levitt, much to work with scriptwise. You've heard Frank's words in Get Shorty, Out of Sight, Minority Report, Flight of the Phoenix, and The Interpreter. I've seen 2 out of 5 and liked neither of them. But Frank stopped being a box office hit about 5 years ago. Levitt was his usual moody, raw self burdened with a different backstory. I get that he never wants to be pegged as the bumbling idiot he played in "30 Rock" and 10 things I hate about you ever again, but now he's just burrowed himself a brand new hole he won't be able to get himself out of when he tries. I guess he won't even try until he gets himself an Oscar nod like his fellow actor Ryan Gosling. There wasn't much to the film. Just what you would expect. The movie's motto gives the whole thing away. So, wait for video.
It is no longer necessary to expound upon all the reasons why I think JGL is fantastic. Unfortunately, the Look out showcases none of his skills as an actor. Look! I'm dark and complex! Here I am avoiding the Hollywood hype by typecasting myself as a brooder! A BROODER! And worst of all, this movie didn't even have any redemptive scenes that I could point to and say "That's what the movie should have really been about." It was an exercise in filmmaking. If you really want to see JGL possess a role, I highly recommend Mysterious Skin, which surpasses his great neo-noir detective role in Brick.
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