Rating:

That‘s right, with his starring roles in last year‘s high-school murder mystery “Brick” and, now, the bank-heist thriller “The Lookout,” the kid from TV‘s “Third Rock From the Sun” has emerged as the latest in a long line of film-noir heroes (or, more accurately, anti-heroes).

In “The Lookout” he plays head-injury victim Chris Pratt - a former high school hockey star who, after a car accident, needs to write down everything in order to perform his daily tasks.

“I just want to be who I was,” he says. That‘s not going to happen. But he can work toward learning to live with his disability as well as possible.

Currently, that means living with a blind friend and mentor (Jeff Daniels), taking classes in which he learns strategies to survive (such as jotting down those reminders) and working late-night cleaning a small-town Kansas bank that serves local farmers.

He appears the perfect patsy for a small gang of bank robbers led by tough-guy Gary (Matthew Goode). Gary befriends Chris in a neighborhood bar and, taking advantage of Chris‘ need to raise his self-esteem, gradually lures him into a plot to rob the bank where he works. A fetching young woman from Gary‘s circle, Luvlee Lemons (Isla Fisher, playing against type after her hilarious performance in “The Wedding Crashers”), helps in the convincing by getting romantically involved with Chris.

Scott Frank, who‘s had a successful career writing first-rate screenplays (“Out of Sight,” “Get Shorty,” “Little Man Tate,” “Dead Again”), not only wrote but makes his directorial debut here, and he‘s clearly up to the task. As the heist approaches, he builds the kind of intense suspense and sense of apprehension (and dread) one finds in classic ‘40s film noirs such as “Out of the Past” (with Mitchum) and “The Killers” (with Lancaster) while also delivering a thought-provoking look at how circumstances can affect who we are and what we become.

Gordon-Levitt, Daniels, Goode, Fisher and the rest of the cast are outstanding as they make familiar character types (the anti-heroic protagonist, the knowing pal, the conniving tough, the conflicted femme fatale, etc.) their own.

Fans of crime films - or, for that matter, movies in general - won‘t want to miss this one.

Tim Miller is the Times' entertainment editor. He can be reached at 508-862-1140 or tmiller@capecodonline.com

RATING SCALE: Four stars (best) to bomb (worst)
RATING: PG-13 (for sexuality/nudity, a scene of drug use, some disturbing images and brief language
RUNNING TIME: 122 minutes