Some might argue a perfect lookalike, which wouldn't be wrong at all. The movie itself has quite a few characters it has to bring together or at least introduce and let them play out what they are trying to do. Obviously everyone involved has their own agenda and not everything is as it seems.Acting-wise you get what you'd expect, with so many known faces. Some might be surprised by the women involved, but only in a very positive way. They all have tough roles to play out, but they deliver. While the story might not have that wow effect going for it, it still is as the movie itself pretty good.

First, Scottie Thompson was a freakin' dead-ringer for a younger Annette Benning in this movie. Face, mannerisms, eyes. The resemblance was almost spooky! I watched this movie on Netflix and couldn't wait to get to the credits at the end -- fully expecting the last name of this actress to be "Beatty" (as in Warren Beatty). Or, maybe Benning and the next door neighbor hooked up one afternoon. Who knows?Second, Justin Long was miscast for this movie to the point of being irritating. I just wanted to slap the s**t out of this guy for acting so goofy in what was supposed to be a gritty drama. I'm sure he's a nice guy, but he really should stick to doing comedies. On second thought, he did a much better job shilling Macs on Apple TV commercials. But that's just my opinion.John Corbett almost managed to pull off the required "bad guy" vibe for his character, Bobby. Unfortunately he never quite hit it out of the park. I kept hearing his voice-over on the Applebee's restaurant TV commercials and could never get it out of my head. (Is it possible for an actor to have his VOICE typecast?) P.S. Loved him on Showtime's "United States of Tara". His best part to date.O'Connell? Eh! I couldn't get into his character. Mila must have been BLIND and deaf to fall for his character as Joe Mulligan. "Way too much sugar for a dime" going on between him and the character Mila.Gina Gershon did very well, but I always thought for years that she was smokin' hot anyway -- so my opinion about her is highly biased. If Hollywood would just let her get back in the game -- even at her age -- she would make this boy's dream come true!John Savage. What can I say? The poor guy is looking very, very long in the tooth and hasn't aged well at all. His superb acting during the glory days of "The Deer Hunter" and "The Thin Red Line" are well behind him now. It may be time to retire to Florida.Finally, "Lookalike" was a fairly good attempt at a serious drama, but in the end could only muster a direct-to-video effort. P.S. It's also great to see New Orleans getting so much movie business (post-Katrina). In one scene Bobby reveals to Joe (and to the viewer) what attracts Hollywood production companies to shoot in and around the city.* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * WARNING - WARNING - WARNING: SPOILER FOLLOWS! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *When Holt and Lacey are fishing from a bank on the Mississippi River there is a tug boat visible screen right. When Vincent (Luiz Guzman) shows up walking his dog the tug disappears. In the next scene the tug reappears again. While they are not visible on screen, I suspect cameras were mounted on the tug to shoot some of the river bank scenes.In the same sequence on the river bank, the very top of Vincent's head appears in the lower edge of the frame for a brief second as he is walking away from Holt and Lacey. That's something the film editor should have spotted and cut out to keep the shot from looking like an amateur home movie.

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.

Greetings again from the darkness. Familiar faces are everywhere in this crime thriller from husband and wife filmmakers Richard Gray (director) and Michele Davis-Gray (writer). The familiar faces make the most of a story with no shortage of characters or sub-plots, though sometimes the movie tries a bit too hard to be gritty and hard-edged.Jerry O'Connell plays Joe Mulligan, a former basketball star turned club owner and drug dealer. Joe is dealing drugs to pay off his dead dad's debt to loan shark Luis Guzman, all while keeping his dream of hosting his own cooking show on the Food Network. See, Joe is mostly a nice guy caught up in an ugly world. This world includes his brother Holt (Justin Long) who may not be the straight-laced guy he first appears as, his drug boss Bobby (John Corbett), Bobby's henchman Frank (Steven Bauer), and William Spinks (John Savage) as the powerful guy who demands a set-up in exchange for a big pay day.The set-up is on track until one of the freakiest fatal accidents strikes Sadie Hill, the object of Spinks' attraction. Desperate for the money, the bumbling drug dummies, decide to find a substitute. Enter Joe's customer and Holt's squeeze as the titular lookalike. Gillian Jacobs (TV's "Community") as Lacey does a nice job making us believe she is just desperate enough to agree to the job. Yes, desperation is a trait shared by most every character in the movie … even the detective played by the always reliable Gena Gershon. The final character of note is Mila (Scottie Thompson), who plays the "girl walks into a bar" role and proceeds to muddy the water in this big plan. Both Ms. Jacobs and Ms. Thompson flash the ability necessary for more ambitious projects.Slow-motion and cheesy music negatively impact some of the dramatic moments and the sex scenes … especially an otherwise effective cross-cut between O'Connell and Long as they seduce Thompson and Jacobs, respectively. Still, for a rainy day mindless crime thriller that won't require much investment, this one is satisfactory and offers a chance to catch up with some of our most familiar character actors.