Not exactly. The Lookout does feature a heist, and it is well-plotted, but it's not flashy, nor is it superficial. Actually, people who just want the thrill of watching a group of criminals rip off a financial institution will probably be disappointed, because the heist in The Lookout is almost beside the point. The hero, Chris Pratt (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), is not the mastermind of the robbery of a small-town bank in Kansas. And the fetishistic exploration of methods and techniques for committing larceny is almost entirely absent here, replaced by introspection, argument and soul-searching. That's right: It's a character study, with bank robbery.
At first, Chris seems like a gimmick: Once a promising high school hockey player and a popular, well-liked guy, he sustained a massive head injury in a car accident and now has trouble accomplishing basic daily tasks. His life shattered, he works as a janitor at that small-town bank, and his only friend is his blind roommate, Lewis (Jeff Daniels). Frank isn't interested in just using Chris' condition as a plot device, though; the early part of the movie simply focuses on his daily life, and how difficult it is for him to relate to other people and form or sustain genuine relationships.
It's only because we understand and care about Chris so much that we can see just how tragic it is when local bad boy Gary (Matthew Goode) enters his life. Gary seemingly treats Chris with respect, hooks him up with a kind-hearted ex-stripper named Luvlee (Isla Fisher) and presses him to take control of his life. Except that, like seemingly everyone in Chris' life, Gary really has no respect for his so-called friend, and his only interest is in the access Chris can provide to the bank.
Frank has all the elements here for noir, and while The Lookout is dark and tragic in many ways, it also neatly tweaks noir conventions as much as it does those of heist movies. Fisher in particular brings some excellent nuances to what could be an obvious femme fatale role, and the prodigiously talented Gordon-Levitt makes Chris' moral dilemma believable and heartbreaking. Even when the film picks up steam and heads toward its tense climax, Chris' internal conflict and emotional turmoil are at its core. There are no gratuitous plot twists, no distracting trick shots and no over-the-top performances—just a good story, told well. That certainly got my attention.