The Lookalike

A Somewhat Gritty and Sometimes Amusing Off-Beat Little Crime Story About Drug Dealers and Assorted Hotties. Many Familiar Faces Can Be Seen in This Underrated Movie with Many a Quirk and a Complicated Plot of Misdirection and Coincidental, but Important Situations.

It's Got Enough Violence and Underworld Middle-Level Drug Stuff to be Sleazy, It's Set in New Orleans, to be Worth a Watch. Nothing Here is New in the Genre but it Tries Hard to Include Characters with Expected and Not So Expected Human Flaws.

Justin Long was Outstanding in Tusk (2014 Directed by Kevin Smith) and is Fine as the Nucleus of the Story and the Women Here are All Smokin Hot and that Adds to the Attraction.

The Film's Aloof Manner Keeps This From the Neo-Noir Genre Although it Contains Some Elements. Nothing Memorable, but is a Good B-Movie and the Cast and Some Style Make This a Good Pick When Slumming.

Your liking of The Lookalike might very well depend on how much coincidences you are ready to accept in a storyline. This one heavily relies on them, some quite extraordinary, but if you are tolerant - or in the mood to be - they are acceptable, especially since they come early on in the introduction of the characters and their respective schemes.

The story is fine, the cast is fine, the picture is often very colourful, in contrast to what must be inside the minds of the protagonists, and there are plenty of beautiful shots, notably of New Orleans and the bayou. What is certainly not so good is the score.

The music is absent from most scenes, but is there for the romance and for the violence. That's unfortunate, specially for the latter. Indeed, these particular scenes lack tension and fail to involve the viewer. Be they a kidnapping or a shoot out, they pass with a level of detachment that doesn't quite fit the genre. I appreciate that they avoid the gruesome of many other films, not so much that they also avoid the thrills. Blaming the music may very well let me overlook other factors, but I'll unfairly leave it at that.

The multiple plot twists don't really come together until the last ten minutes of the movie. I would have spent more time developing the Sadie Hill plot twist at Versailles. They did a decent job introducing that at the beginning of the story. But the dramatic scene near the end left more questions than answers. Basically, this is a drug drama with several disjointed murder plots stashed in the middle. And an ending that was not fully developed enough to explain the mysterious past relationship which seems to be the premise that exploits the finale plot twist. The effort of one of the minor characters seemed wasted to me.

By poser-ish I mean that it's trying to be a gritty crime ensemble flick but it's just a little 'off' in most regards.

The acting is a little 'off' at times as is the direction, editing and the cinematography isn't the best, they are trying to make it look fancy but instead manages to do the exact opposite.

The overall plot is pretty cool but the dialogue could definitely have done with some enhancements with a lot of cheesy lines that feels like they were taken out of a soap-opera at times.

So yeah it's not a film that grabbed me by the edge of my seat and occasionally my mind wondered astray but for the more-part it managed to keep my interest.

So yeah watchable but flawed, 5.5/10 from me.

In the second half it gets interesting but still i wouldnt recommend it.

Nothing special in this movie and the actors didnt give anything unique, just an average movie.