Back in the day, Chris Pratt had it all. He was popular, had a rich family, was the town jock and had a hot girlfriend until one day, an avoidable car wreck took it all away. Trying to pick up the pieces and dealing with a massive head injury, he leads a very simple life as he struggles with day-to-day routines like taking a shower. Life’s pretty dim as he struggles as a nighttime janitor at a bank. Bu then one day, Chris meets Gary who is smooth with the ladies and seems like a cool cat, but unfortunately for Chris, Gary has other plans for him. Ladies and gentlemen prepare yourselves for…another bank heist movie.
I liked this movie overall, but I can’t say that I was blown away by it. The heist itself was basically plain and kinda too easy and even though I realize that it was a small town bank, realistically, if this was the case, there would be a lot more banks getting robbed in this day and age. That said, I don’t think the heist was supposed to be the anchor of the film. For me, the real glue of the story were its characters. It was a fantastic portrait of this young guy who experienced quite a unique trauma in his life and how he’s just trying to deal with it all. There were so many details to the character throughout the story that you were engaged the whole time. However, with all these details it almost felt like the character was over-developed as it encompassed two thirds of the flick. I was starting to lose a little focus. It didn’t bother me that most of the story was about this troubled guy, but I guess I was expecting a little more about the heist itself.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Chris Pratt. WOW! This kid is extremely talented. I’m not sure what the condition he had was called, but it had something to do with him not being able to perform simple tasks unless he wrote them down as reminders to himself (cough*MEMENTO*cough). At any rate, Levitt was totally convincing and I think this movie is going to be his launching pad for greater and bigger things! (after his powerful performance in last year’s BRICK, of course) I’m very excited to see what he’s going to be doing next.
Jeff Daniels plays Lewis, Pratt’s blind roommate and mentor of sorts. I love Jeff Daniels! I wish he would come back to do more mainstream flicks. He stole every scene in this film and was the definite comic relief. Matthew Goode was pretty good, too. You knew he was a bad guy, but he brought this real charisma to the character that was fun to watch. Isla Fisher, I dunno, she’s uber cute and all, but it seemed like she was still playing her character from THE WEDDING CRASHERS. Her character didn’t do much for me.
For a first time director, Scott Frank did OK. I loved the one scene at the beginning with the fireflies on the road. Cool stuff. The whole feel and look of the movie had an “indie” quality to it, which gave it a simple charm that most peeps will appreciate. And this is yet another perfect example of how you don’t have to have a huge budget to make a good film. My biggest problem with the movie was the build up to the heist. It was just too slow, but I assume they were trying to develop the main character more. As a result, the film did start to lose my attention, but thankfully, it pulled through and all was pieced together nicely in the end.
This isn’t the best heist movie I’ve ever seen, but it does have an interesting character plotline that was enjoyable to watch. So if you want to check out some good acting and a not-so-bad story…go for it: “One for THE LOOKOUT please”.
— by Tim
Goernert