I was quite surprised to see that the writer/director of The Lookout has quite an established career as a Hollywood writer, since this film offers nothing new (then again, maybe that's a key to longevity in Hollywood). I was also surprised to see the gushing reviews that this rather cliché film garnered from some major critics. It is character-driven story. The only problem is, none of the characters are particularly interesting. The story revolves around a young man as he struggles with a post-car accident brain injury. Unfortunately, those struggles are only superficially touched upon. We see him in some sort of rehabilitation school for about a minute, then a brief meeting with a therapist, (assuming she will be a major character in the piece), who is never seen or heard from again. His relationship with his wealthy family could have been interesting, however, we only see them in the briefest of scenes, and are not even sure who his father is until the final line of that scene when he calls a man "dad". The relationship with his blind roommate is not particularly drawn out either (you're half-way through the film before you realize it's his roommate, and not a relative). The other problem is the casting. This is the 2nd film where I've seen Gordon-Levitt try and carry a leading role, and it simply does not go over well. First, he is miscast as a former high-school star hockey player that every guy looked up to and every girl wanted to bed. I've seen many former high school glory boys, and none of them were as diminutive as Gordon- Levitt. But that's a minor problem. What's worse is that, though technically a sound actor, Levitt is part of a whole crop of up-and-coming former child actors that seem completely untouched by life (see Josh Hartnett). There's no real presence or weight there. It's as if, after years of these young men and women being scolded not to overact and "be natural", that now they do nothing at all, besides "mood act", which is an instant cure for insomnia. This young man is being hailed as "one to watch", so maybe there's something I'm missing here. But I will say that it's getter harder to.