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The Lookout, Out of Sight screenwriter Scott Frank's directing debut, is a rare bird: a perfectly structured film that exudes spontaneity and risk. It's a master class in the well-executed turning point, and a case study in the proper use of hoary old techniques like flashback and voiceover. It must have been a delight to read on the page--and how wonderful to report that it's also a delight to watch.

Not many people can look Chris Pratt (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) in the eye. He's invisible as the night custodian at a tiny bank in rural Kansas, functional but not quite a person. For his family, his very presence is a shameful reminder of the promise he squandered on a stupid joyride on a dark country road, leaving two people dead, one permanently injured, and Chris brain-damaged. His only companion is his blind roommate Lewis (Jeff Daniels), who's the only one that Chris allows to offer him help. So when Gary (Matthew Goode) shows up, offering Chris a life he can be proud of, Chris is ripe for seduction, ready to make a fool's gamble for what seems to be a small price: standing as lookout while his new friends rob the bank.

This kind of moral quandary is the stuff that ambitious spec screenplays are made of, but it's rare to see a concept like this actually get the execution it deserves. The Lookout bears a strong resemblance to that other cash-in-a-bag-what-do-I-do drama, A Simple Plan, and pulls off the same combination of taut thriller moments and gut-wrenching character development. Frank seems to be deliberately playing up the temptation melodrama angle, with Gary sounding like the devil taunting Jesus in the wilderness underneath the red neon cross blaring over Chris and Lewis's apartment. (Might this be the perfect movie for Lent?)

Gordon-Levitt is simply astonishing--with his soft, sensual mouth and hard, wounded stag eyes, he's the kind of boy who startles you by acting like a man just when you thought he still need to hold your had across the street. Frank pairs him with Isla Fisher (Wedding Crashers), daffy and ductile as a stripper who says she doesn't dance anymore. She has a marvelous scene with Daniels where the two circle around each other in a pissing match over Chris that shows off the depth beneath Fisher's cartoon features. Daniels doesn't quite pull off playing a blind man, but he more than compensates with his solid interplay with Gordon-Levitt.

As Chris barrels down the highway, headlights off so better to see the glowing fireflies dancing in the dark night sky, he exudes youth, vitality, and testosterone-infused teenage male sexuality. His transformation to shambling half-man is nothing less than a tragedy that the audience experiences from the inside-out, thanks to Frank's sensitive direction and Gordon-Levitt's nuanced acting choices. The Lookout proves that a genre film need not sacrifice story and emotion to achieve maximum thrill.

Caption: Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Chris in THE LOOKOUT. Photo Credit Allen Fraser/ Courtesy of Miramax Films.