MovieChat Forums > The Lookout (2007) Discussion > Was the mental condition/backstory reall...

Was the mental condition/backstory really necessary, when..?

posted 9 years ago by RynoII
3 replies | jump to latest

The thing is a lot of people are mentally challenged from birth. There is autism, cerebral palsy, Aspurgers syndrome, etc.

It just seems to me that it would have been better to use one of these for Chris, and have him so he had it his life, rather than the more complicated car crash causes him to become confused. I guess I just think that one of those more common impairments would have sufficed for the story, and did not see why they chose that oddly unique anterograde amnesia condition particularly.

Plus Anterograde amnesia was already used in the famous Memento(2000), already so using it here, just makes it look like too much of a cliche or ripoff. If they would have chosen another condition like Austism or Aspurgers, it would have been less cliche, since Memento is was only 7 years before it.

In Memento it also made sense since they used the short term memory as a plot device, but here, it seems that other conditions would have done to make Chris not popular with people, and that this one was oddly chosen, perhaps just cause of Memento's success.

What do you think?

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] CoolX3 9 years ago

Part of his motivation is that he used to be "the man" but now after his accident he isn't and he wants to be again. This is illustrated with the hockey flashback near the beginning where Chris is pretending to play hockey in the bank. That motivation would have been different if it was a lifelong thing. Then all the people he was with wouldn't be reminding him of how he used to be so great in order to get him to help out. They also couldn't have played on the guilt he feels for those two friends who died.
Another answer could be the same answer to "why was Lewis blind". Because that's the character trait they decided to go with.

[–] Katiedidd 7 years ago

I agree with this totally. Knowing that Chris used to be someone else adds to his motivation for getting swept up in the heist, not to mention the tragedy of it all. If it were just someone with a born deficit, it wouldn't have been as heavy. It makes it all the more compelling to see "how Chris was," compared to what he became after the brain injury. That's why we see things like how his father treated him and how the criminals buttered him up because he had been a town hero before.

Just because "Memento" is awesome, and it centers around amnesia doesn't mean amnesia is off limits for a film forever or even seven years later. Their amnesias aren't even the same. I don't think of "Memento" when watching "The Lookout," and it's one of my favorite films. It's like saying DID or fugue states are off limits because it was done so well in "Fight Club." Having a similar disability featured in an amazing film prior doesn't exactly make later ones knock-offs.