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When you look at Scott Frank's writing credits --especially "Minority Report" and "Out Of Sight"-- it is really no surprise that this is an unusually smart and entertaining crime drama.

It is an "adult movie" in the best sense of that term.

This is a beautifully bleak looking movie where all the color is in the characters and their behavior. The acting is top notch. I've never seen this Levitt kid before, but he captures emotional and intellectual numbness with a finesse I haven't seen since Guy Pierce's work in "Memento". It is a tough role and he hits it out of the park. Jeff Daniels is Oscar-worthy as his best friend and Matthew Goode plays a guy who you know sheds more than one skin each year. Isla Fisher is a welcome ray of sunlight in this dark tale.

It is the anti-"300" (which I liked a lot). This movie really sneaks up on you, it doesn't bludgeon you but before you know it you are totally spellbound by it.

I'll be looking forward to the next movie directed (and written) by Scott Frank.

What was interesting about going to see The Lookout, for me, was the uncertainty with Scott Frank, the screenwriter who makes his directorial debut here. It would be one thing if he were a screenwriter whose work I've seen was all original. If his previous screenplays had been great original works, I'd be absolutely sure that he'd be a great director, but because the only films he's written that I've seen have been adaptations of Elmore Leonard novels and a Philip K. Dick story, it was not only the first time I'd see his direction by also the first time I'd experience his own story.

I found that the script was great. I enjoy heist films possibly more than any other genre, and even though the heist itself is not so intricate and clever the way I prefer them the premise that sets up the gimmick used in the heist is quite clever. Really though, the film is not about the heist at all. It's about a very young person whose life is now completely different because of a car wreck that was all his fault. He has short term memory loss and deals with its shortcomings accompanied by horrible feelings of guilt for the deaths of his two friends and the maiming of his girlfriend. The movie at times seems a little uneven, because the makings of a thriller are intercut estrangedly with the makings of a slice-of-life drama. But both sides of the story work and it's generally fulfilling despite not being so tightly done. The movie is, upon reflection, reminiscent of realist films from the 1970s in its story and directorial style.

The cinematography and editing are adequate, yet strangely, in many scenes, particularly those that take place at the main character's family's home and those that takes place at the bank, have great atmosphere, a coziness.

What I admire about the movie is that it avoids clichés that seem on the very brink of being outrageous displays of them. For instance, there is the friendly airhead patrol cop that stops off at the bank every night to check up on things, bringing doughnuts and all, and we feel as if we know what will happen with him, and even now, one can't truly say it was or wasn't expected. The almost unbearably riveting climax, for instance, is for heist movie fans, a near-cliché, but wraps up with a fresh and new take on what we would expect. The characters are all inventive actually, and quite realistic.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, a very young face without a name, will perhaps have a name now due to his deep, impressive performance in the title role. Jeff Daniels, however, has reached the point in his career where he steals every scene he is in, a la Michael Caine or Al Pacino, playing the sagacious and outgoing friend. Matthew Goode, playing the lead villain, is also a major plus for the cast. Leave it to an English actor to portray the villain with such a whispering convincing disposition that even we almost like him at first even though we are in on his scheme from the beginning. Greg Dunham, who plays another would-be cliché, the stoic sunglassed killer of only about five words in his vocabulary, avoids clichehood by somehow drawing such intense hatred from the audience that we are spared nothing by his cold and ruthless behavior.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt seems to pop up where I least expect him. Having not heard his name since the glorious days of "3rd Rock from the Sun", he turns up in this movie. And while it was surprising, his acting didn't fall flat.

Joseph is paired with Jeff Daniels of "Dumb and Dumber" fame. They are a unique pair. Joseph has loss of short term memory due to a tragic accident and Daniels is blind. Daniels is sharp with his biting sarcasm and crazy one liners. But Joseph is stays serious, distancing himself from his earlier days.

It had some good moments and things really heat up during the robbery. The action with the security guard at the bank along with the plot at the end made it an interesting bit to watch. Worthy of its awards? Doubt it, but it certainly surprised a little. "B"

"The Lookout" is the kind of film there needs to be more of.

It's a pleasant, simple genre piece, unambitious, but solidly crafted with strong writing and good acting. That's a formula that is hard to find in current Hollywood movies, and it's woefully under-appreciated.

Gordon Joseph-Levitt has proved himself as a very good young actor, and on the strengths of this movie and last year's "Brick" has shown a flair for picking original projects. In this movie, he plays Chris Pratt, former king of his rural Kansas high school, now a janitor and night watchman in a dead end job at a bank after a car accident leaves his brain addled. A group of small-time hoods convince him to join their plan to rob the bank at which Chris works, preying on his need for friends and his feeling that control of his own life has been taken away. But things go badly, Chris finds out he's been used as little more than a dupe, and he gets a chance to take control when he ends up with all of the stolen money that the hoods desperately want back.

This movie belongs to that genre of films about the kinds of hopeless crime that occur out in the wide open spaces of Nowheresville, U.S.A. It's a movie whose impact relies on good plotting, pacing and suspense rather than graphic violence, and unlike so many of the films Hollywood has been producing lately, it doesn't leave you feeling awful and gloomy.

Jeff Daniels, who in recent years has become one of my favorite actors, does more fine work as Chris's blind friend Lewis, who, despite his handicap, sees more than anybody else in the movie.

Grade: A

This quiet, understated drama-thriller may take a while to get going, but the characters are fascinating and Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Jeff Daniels have a wonderful chemistry that lends the film an unexpected heart. As a brain-damaged student and a blind wannabe entrepreneur respectively, their relationship is very sweet and would probably work well in a buddy comedy.

There's a neat Fargo-like quality to a lot of the characters and dialogue and while it covers few locations it has that convincing small town feel.

Gordon-Levitt is a night janitor at a local bank who's targeted by a gang and finessed into acting as a lookout while they rob it. Things - as they must - go wrong and he has to summon all the faculties of his fractured mind to save himself.

Isla Fisher is quite revelatory in her small role. As Luvlee she's either rather dim-witted or incredibly cunning. Fisher's performance hints at the deeper recesses of her character but doesn't reveal what they hide. Luvlee is one of those rare characters where you find yourself genuinely hoping they won't turn out to be something other than what they appear. Ultimately there's something curiously redemptive about Gordon-Levitt's journey, where there really shouldn't be. It's a testament to the quality of his performance.

Overall a satisfying drama with sustained tension and some fine performances.