Doppleganger may be a strong word: "The Lookout"

But damn if that kid from "3rd Rock from the Sun" grew up to look a hell of a lot like Heath Ledger. Eerie, I tell you.

I'm not sure I heard about this movie before my dad mentioned it in a post on this very blog. Sure can't recall it being in theaters, but hey ... I've got a kid now. "Iron Man," I can keep track of. Films that are a little more subtle and solid in their own way? No guarantees.

As it turns out, "The Lookout" was directed by Scott Frank, taking his first turn behind the camera after writing the screenplays for some decent movies, among them "Minority Report," "The Interpreter," "Malice" (which maybe only I like, but still ... ) and one of my favorite underrated movies of all time, "Out of Sight." Didn't know any of this going in, but it makes a little sense given how much I liked this movie.

Our story follows a young man, Chris Pratt (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who ends up brain damaged after a car he was driving -- with three others inside -- crashes on a rural Kansas road. Chris now is trying to get by and get his life back, working as a janitor in a bank and living with a blind guy (Jeff Daniels, and not living together in that way). Eventually, though, our hero meets up with a ne'er-do-well (Matthew Goode from "Match Point," burying the British accent) who has the bright idea of robbing a bank. Hey, Chris works at a bank! What a co-inky-dink.

Chris isn't sure what to do. On the one hand, I still know that robbing banks is bad. Bad! On the other, this guy's hot friend (Isla Fisher from "Wedding Crashers," whose character is named Luvlee Lemons. Yes.) will sleep with me, my boss won't let me be a teller instead of mopping floors, and my dad (Bruce McGill, not as funny as usual) has turned into a real d*ck since my accident. Maybe I should get a piece of this action. And not just Luvlee.

So we've got the makings of a nice little film noir, and it comes together pretty well. All the main players are solid, especially Gordon-Levitt. Yeah, the kid from "3rd Rock." Once you get past the Ledger thing -- seriously, the hair's a little darker, but that's about the only difference -- he gives a great performance. Heck, I believed he had a head injury. It wasn't like he was retarded, just fuzzy. You could kind of see the lapses floating around inside his skull, especially when he just blurted out whatever was on his mind. "I want to see you naked. (Pause) Sorry."

I liked this movie quite a bit. Good story, good performances, nice, tight package -- just a shade over 90 minutes. Bonus points for being set in the Kansas City area. Not shot there, of course; hello, Winnipeg! But hey, any movie that drops a reference to Raytown is aces with me.