THE GREAT JUSTIN LONG CAPER
The Lookalike
***1/2
Review by Justin T. Bowler
@IndyFilmTwittic
“The Lookalike” is fascinating. It keeps turning and turning as it further unwinds more and more. Ten minutes in, you think you have the gist of it as the meaning of the title becomes clear. At fifteen minutes, it takes an interesting turn. At twenty minutes, it takes another turn. At twenty-five minutes, it takes another unseen, yet justified turn. Thirty minutes into the film I actually said out loud “I love this film and I love everyone in it!”
This is a film that breaks the rules of filmmaking in a fantastic way. None of the bad guys are ALL bad and none of the good guys are ALL good. Furthermore, all the actors who normally play the good guys, play the bad ones (as you may have guessed, conversely, all of the actors who normally play the bad guys, play the good ones). It seems casting was clearly predicated by the idea of playing against type. For example, hypothetically speaking, what if Kermit the Frog was cast as a bad guy, or even a not-so-likable good guy? It could never happen, right? Well, it does here. Kind of. Okay, Kermit is not in this movie, but Justin Long is, and he is really the Kermit the Frog of the 2000-teen generation.
Justin Long normally plays the lovable Kermit the Frog type character: upbeat, positive, determined to overcome large obstacles to help the greater good… Case in point, a recent tweet from Kermit the Frog was “Just because you haven’t found your talent yet, doesn’t mean you don’t have one.” Doesn’t that seem like something Justin Long would say in “Accepted”… or “Dodgeball”… or “Galaxy Quest”… (you get the picture). In “The Lookalike”, Justin (I use his first name as if we are buds and hangout a lot at Timmy Nolan’s in Toluca Lake (and maybe we do, you don’t know)) is like we have never seen him… out of control, back against the wall, and a total selfish jerk, not even in the charming and likable kind of way. At one point, he asks a new girl in his life, who he thinks may be the new love of his life, to risk bodily harm and her life to save his ass from a bookie (what a jerk of a character that is, huh?) (Justin would never do that in real life. Instead, he would say something uplifting to put things into perspective like “It’s not easy being green.”).
Gillian (pronounce Gill, not Jill, -ian) also plays against type. I love Gillian in “Community”, and I LOVED her even more in “The Big Ask” (if you haven’t seen it, check out my review HERE. Then seek it out and watch it. It’s a FANTASTIC indie!). In addition to “The Big Ask”, here she really shows her acting chops in two different roles. Furthermore, I want to see an entire film based on the character she plays in the first fifteen minutes of this film (she should do something gritty directed by Anton Fuqua) (She doesn’t have to play the Denzel role in that film, let Denzel do that (it won’t be as gritty if he isn’t in it), she can play the Eva Mendez role). Typically, Gillian is typecast (Hollywood has no imagination), so she has to play roles which are more like Janice from The Electric Mayhem (on “The Muppet Show”).
 
Am I wrong? Look at those two pictures (if you can’t tell which one is Janice and which one is Gillian, congratulations, you are a big time Hollywood movie producer) (If you can see the difference, then I’m sorry to say, you are not, NOR EVER WILL BE, Michael Bay).
On a side note, if you haven’t seen Gillian (pronounced Gill, not Jill, -ian) Jacobs and Alison (pronounced Al, not Jill, -ison) Brie at their funniest/sexiest for a GQ Pin-Up Special, then do yourself a favor and take this jump:
It makes you want to ask one of them to go recreate the Buddy/Jovie date montage from “Elf” (they are so flipping adorable).
Next up, Hollywood treasure Jerry O’Connell, who also normally plays the slightly arrogant, not so bright, but always charming and good looking guy, ie. Sam the Eagle, takes on the role Justin Long would normally play. Jerry O’Connell is one of Hollywood’s most underrated actors and should get A LOT more work. When will Hollywood wake up and realize how awesome he is? (When I’m running things, he will be in every movie made (and I do mean, EVER MADE, as in… I will get all George Lucas-ey and digitally insert him into everything: “Casablanca”, “Raiders”, “The Shining”, “Bambi”, etc.)) Also, as a side note, if you don’t know about Shia Labeouf’s #IAMSORRY art exhibit/experience, check it out HERE:
You have to see that because it is the set up to Hollywood Treasure Jerry O’Connell’s spoof of it, called #IAMSORRYTOO, which took place RIGHT NEXT DOOR to Shia’s experience:
John Corbett is also in this movie (I know what you are thinking… this film has a lot of people you know of. Yes, you are right. So, you should go see it). John (first name only because he hangs with me and Justin at Timmy’s) also plays against type, like we have never seen him. Normally he is the charming guy. Here, he is completely unlikable as a low-level mob boss or high-level drug dealer (take your pick). “No, I don’t want a midget. I want a girl who can fire ping pong balls out of her…” (you get the picture). This is NOT typical John Corbett and it’s awesome to see him stray from his typecasting. He always plays the man who makes your world better with positive energy and an uplifting attitude, something akin to Scooter from “The Muppet Show”…
To prove my point, look at this picture.

Now picture that guy with a green jacket…
in a yellow sweater…
with rounder glasses…
and red hair.
Boom!
You get this guy…

Okay, if that doesn’t make sense to you. Try this on for size. Look at this side by side comparison of the two.

(Ok, that is actually a picture of Steve Carell, but you have to admit, that is PRETTY close to DEAD ON!) (Plus, look how closely John Corbett resembles Steve Carell in these two pics):

(Yes, both pictures are little bit fuzzy (but it only helps prove my point!)). So, by the mathematical property of substitution, we can say that John Corbett is equal to Steve Carell and Steve Carell is equal to Scooter. Therefore, John Corbett is equal to Scooter (sorry, I didn’t mean to get all mathematical on you, but I had a point to prove).
Lovable Luis Guzman plays a dick of a henchman. While normally he is a Fozzy Bear type, here, he is just a dick (that was a compliment, btw.)
Scottie Thompson is someone whose work I am not entirely familiar with, but her Muppet equivalent would be the hot guest star on an episode of “The Muppet Show”. This is a slightly ironic correlation because if one of the characters in this movie deserves a muppet correlation, it’s her. Her character has one leg (and Muppets don’t have any) (Insert Alanis Morissette lyric here).
John Savage gives the best performance of all, in a film full of great performances. In a role that easily could have been played as one dimensional, he played with fantastic multiple levels (I have no Muppet correlation for him).
Overall, writer Michele Davis-Gray has created a well-written script. Typically, third acts tend to fall apart in this type of multi-character film. Not this one. (If anything, the second act could have used a little more work (this was a directorial choice more so than a script choice), it felt a little long at times in its ramp up to the big third act. But, I can’t find too much fault in that). However, the piece is not without it’s problems, but they are so small, it doesn’t stop how great this film is. For example, I didn’t like one of the wigs they used on Gillian. It looked like a wig. Also, every now and then, it got a little self-indulgent. There was a slow motion shot of someone walking away from an explosion in the night. It’s one shot, so don’t let that turn you away.
This is a really fun film with some wonderful performances by so many different actors. It is well worth seeking out and watching.
While you are at it, check out the top-ranked episodes of the Muppet Show as suggested HERE.
3.5 out of 4 stars for indie film fans
3 out of 4 stars for mass audiences
3.5 out of 4 stars for “The Muppet Show” fans
Your indie film reviewer,
Justin Bowler
@IndyFilmTwittic
@JustinTBowler
Directed by: Richard Gray
Release Date: November 7, 2014
Run Time: 100 Minutes
Country: USA
Rated: Unrated
Distributor: Yellow Brick Films
