Good direction
can often improve a poor screenplay, just as bad can have a devastating effect
on a good one. The Lookalike is a mess of a screenplay which has its awfulness
enhanced by director Richard Gray. Not improved, mind you, but enhanced with
excessive slow-motion photography and a manipulative soundtrack to cue the
audience’s every emotion. It is a bad script that is over-directed, rather than
improved upon, which may have something to do with the writer being the wife of
the director.
This is Michele
Gray’s third screenwriting credit, all three of which have been directed by her
husband. While the premise has some promise, the end result feels like someone
shot the first draft of the screenplay on accident. Too much feels forced,
contrived melodrama and convenient coincidences overriding any decent
characterizations. Believable characters can allow audiences to forgive some of
the more unbelievable plot twists, but all of The Lookalike feels half-baked.
The film opens
with a secret plan, though it doesn’t feel like a scheme as much as simple
prostitution. Sadie Hill (Gillian Jacobs) is partnering with small-time
criminals Bobby and Frank (John Corbett and Steven Bauer) to arrange a filmed
sexual encounter with drug lord William Spinks (John Savage), a former business
partner of Sadie’s father. The reasons behind this arrangement are kept secret,
but they are compelling enough for Spinks to spend an exorbitant amount of
money.
With everyone relying on the arrangement,
Sadie’s sudden death (in a scene more fitting a dark comedy) throws Bobby and
Frank into a panic. They desperately begin searching for a lookalike to replace
her. Fortunately, basketball champion turned drug dealer, Joe (Jerry
O’Connell), has a client with a striking resemblance. Lacey (also Jacobs) goes
to Joe’s apartment to turn him over to an eager detective (Gina Gershon)
looking to make a drug bust, and instead begins a relationship with his
desperate roommate, Holt (Justin Long). The plot is complete by throwing in a beautiful
young deaf woman (Scottie Thompson), who takes it upon herself to become
involved in the situation after a few dates with Joe, a frightening debt
collector (Luis Guzmán), and Sadie’s suspicious co-worker (Felisha Terrell). There
are too many threads to this narrative, and few are written with enough depth
for us to care about.
The Blu-ray release includes a
behind-the-scenes featurette, as well as a few deleted scenes that were
rightfully left on the cutting room floor. The high definition does little to
enhance the film, despite the preoccupation Gray has with slow motion shots
during the action scenes, both sexual and violent.
Entertainment Value:
5/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 4/10
Historical
Significance: 1/10
Special Features: 4/10
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