Now on DVD:

The Lookout

Grade: C

This directing debut from screenwriter Scott Frank (Out of Sight) opened earlier this year to terrific reviews, and became an early favorite in the Oscar race at movie buzz websites. Despite all the good press the flick raked in a measly $4.5M at the box office, and it vanished quickly from theaters. The DVD came out today, and I rented it under the presumption that an overlooked gem awaited me. But to my mind The Lookout is a major dud, and the praise bewilders me. Joseph Gordon-Levitt - who was terrific in Mysterious Skin - plays a young man who sustains a severe brain injury in a reckless driving incident. In the voice-over narration he reminds himself to wake up every day, to take a shower with soap, to ... wait, didn't we see this already in Memento? We sure did, only Christopher Nolan's 2000 stunner was a true original, while Frank's whole film is derivative of Memento and other superior film noirs about people who are fucked in the head. You can see all the plot twists coming a mile away, and Gordon-Levitt's final showdown with a bunch of bully bank robbers plays like late night action TV tripe. And apart from Jeff Daniel's competent but unremarkable turn as a horny blind guy, the supporting cast is thoroughly dreadful.