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How to Rob a Bank
A young man recovering from a traumatic car accident falls in with thieves in this clever crime thriller
"I just want to be who I was!" cries Chris Pratt (Gordon-Levitt), a janitor whose life has been torn apart by a car accident that left him with a crippling brain injury. Once a high-school golden boy with the brightest of futures ahead of him, Chris now resides in a surreal alt-world where everyday chores bewilder him and the only things that stick are the ones he writes down in his ever-present notebook. Like Guy Pearce's character in Memento crossed with Dustin Hoffman's in Rain Man, he is a damaged soul whose hold on reality is shaky at best. Just the kind of stooge, then, who might come in handy were a gang of ruthless thieves plotting to rob the bank where he works. But writer-director Scott Frank has a surprise in store for them, and for us as well. Chris might be an unlikely hero, but he's a hero all the same whose off-kilter perspective gives him an unexpected advantage over those who take him for granted. Indeed, everything is just a little out of whack in this accomplished drama, from Isla Fisher's accidental femme fatale to Matthew Goode's affable criminal to Jeff Daniels' Lewis, the blind room-mate who - for all his wild schemes and big ideas (Lew's Your Lunch, anyone?) - sees a hell of a lot clearer than most of those around him. It's almost as if Frank has composed his script from inside his protagonist's head, a bold stylistic move that keeps us uncertain of our footing and unsettled throughout. Clearly Frank has learned a thing from adapting such Elmore Leonard works as Out Of Sight and Get Shorty, most notably having your plot emerge organically from character. He's also learned to give his creations reams of crisp, quotable dialogue and to make every role, however small, memorable and fully rounded. (Look out for Bruce McGill as Chris's disapproving dad and Carla Gugino as his tough-but-fair counsellor.) Where The Lookout stumbles is in the execution of its climactic raid, an overly schematic sequence that depends too heavily on the kind of plot contrivance and action-movie cliches Frank has thus far been careful to avoid. For the most part, however, this is a tightly structured, well-written thriller with a raft of performances to savour. Verdict An ingenious heist drama that views its familiar noir elements from an unexpected angle. |
