Word: lookin
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...ASHBY'S NEWEST FILM, Lookin' to Get Out, is framed by illusion As flashy neon titles appear in the opening sequence, two brightly dressed magicians work their chichi miracles on a glittery Las Vegas stage. The closing credits roll over a juggler trying in vain to make something of a very state routine...
Like Atlantic City. Louis Malle's brilliant expose of dreamers out to make the "big score" in the casino, Lookin' To Get Out takes a low-key, matter-of-fact approach to its subject. Malle used very simple camera angles and clear shots, and never allowed his stars to throw in any histrionics into their understated performances. He had no pretensions about his film, but simply let John Guare's excellent screenplay work itself out before the camera. Ashby, however, can't afford the luxury of sitting back in his director's chair. But the script for Lookin...
...grand illusion of Lookin' To Get Out, of course, is Alex's belief that he can beat the house. The film treat us once again to the tired theme of self-destruction: all gamblers really want to lose. But even this apparently simplistic theme is not developed quite as well as it should be. Ashby simply lets his actors wander around aimlessly. He does nothing to create the mood that the film's themes demand...
...almost impossible to become emotional about this movie. Lookin' To Get Out shies away from engaging the audience, always keeping us at a distance. Because it provides no explicit answers and only half-baked questions, we are forced to read things into it that may or may not be there. The audience guesses that Alex is an insecure dreamer; but in the context of the film itself-in the world according to Hal Ashby-we have very little basis for this judgement. Lookin' To Get Our leaves us feeling empty, wanting a great deal more than this film...
...comm in and the vice squad out. They had bad ole Marvin Zindler high-steppin' through his favorite den of iniquity like a virgin bride navigatin' a field of cow chips. They had Sheriff T.J.-they called him Ed Earl-and Miss Edna-they ailed her Mona-lookin' longingly at each other from th' opposite sides of middle age. Best of all, they had a county fair's worth of good dancin'. Cheerleaders shook their pompoms, Aggies stomped around the locker room, Edna's girls sashayed up and down the big staircase...