Review: The Lookout

I once pronounced Zach Braff a future Oscar winner. Well, I take that back if he keeps making movies like The Ex. It had potential. It had Amanda Peet and Justin Bateman. But it pretty much sucked as an attempt at comedy.

If you’re stuck for an idea at the New Releases wall, grab The Lookout. Joseph Gordon-Levitt never gives a bad performance, not counting the years he spent goofing around on Third Rock From The Sun.

In The Lookout he plays a high school football hero who causes a stupid car accident that kills two of his friends, seriously injures another and leaves him with a permanent brain injury that requires him to stay in assisted living. He becomes a mark for a gang of robbers targeting the bank he cleans at night. It’s terrific – believable yet complex and ultimately satisfying. It has a dash of brilliance borrowed from Memento and a hooker with a heart of gold. Isla Fisher proves she’s capable of a lot more than just handling Vince Vaughan under the dinner table in Wedding Crashers.

And speaking of people popping up in the movies, I watched one of my all-time favourites the other day for about the 3,568th time – Never Been Kissed. (Don’t you dare judge me!!!) It’s the first time I noticed James Franco, aka Spiderman’s Harry Osborn, as one of the high school kids.

Never Been Kissed is the romantic comedy to end all romantic comedies, not counting When Harry Met Sally and Love Actually. It’s sweet and sappy and hilarious. And it apparently contains some background work by James Franco.