Chris attends physical rehab and, as part of his life skills classes, has a job as a janitor at a local bank. His only "friend" is his blind, aging hippie roommate, Lewis (Jeff Daniels). One night at a local bar, Chris meets Gary (Matthew Goode) and, after Gary saves Chris from being taken advantage of by the bartender, the two strike up a friendship. Gary also introduces Chris to the alluring Luvlee (Isla Fisher) and the two end up becoming an item.
In a turn of events, Gary has his own plans to take advantage of Chris; the only interest he or any of his group have in Chris is his job at the bank, which they plan to rob. With Luvlee's help, Gary is easily able to get Chris to join in on the heist by playing on Chris' life frustrations and dependence on his father. Chris agrees, but his guilt over past mistakes begins to influence his current situation.
Although it is advertised as a heist movie, The Lookout places less emphasis on the actually heist (which, when you look at it isn't THAT big) and more on the characters. Gordon-Levitt does a really good job at showing how vulnerable Chris is; you really begin to feel for him not because he's disabled, but because of the number of flaws, which makes him really relatable.
The same can be said for Goode, who puts in perhaps the movie's best performance. He's the epitome of the used car salesman; he has that manipulative charm that is able to convince you that the dented door adds character to the car. Having recently watched Taxi Driver, I couldn't help but draw a few parallels between Travis and Gary. Both have their flaws and take part in things we normally wouldn't do, yet both are still human and relatable in an odd way.
The included featurettes are pretty good and worth a watch. One chronicles Gordon-Levitt's research into the character and shows the number of sensitivities shown towards people with the same type of injuries his character has in the movie. Another is the standard "Making of..." feature. The commentary is also worth a listen, especially if you are interested in what goes into writing a movie.
As far as the Blu-ray presentation goes, The Lookout looks nice - though I can't really say that the movie really benefits in any great deal from the clearer picture and better sound. Still, The Lookout is a great movie and worth a look if you are into heist movies or character-centric movies.
