Lookin’ to Get Out
While watching the featurette on the DVD release of the 1982 film Lookin’ To Get Out, actor (and co-screenwriter) Jon Voight tells the tale of this new version of the film that director Hal Ashby had given to UCLA and was recently discovered.
The significance here is that the studio had originally taken control of the film from Ashby and released their version to theaters, where the film failed to catch much of an audience.
Twenty-seven years later, Warner Home Video is now releasing the new Ashby version on DVD.
Lookin’ To Get Out is the tale of two gamblers (Voight and Burt Young) who venture from New York to Las Vegas in hopes of turning their fortunes around and pay off the mobster-types to whom they are indebted.
Ann-Margret plays Alex’s girlfriend, who tries not to get pulled into Voight’s troubles. Also, it should be noted that while part of the DVD marketing campaign stresses that the film marks the film debut of a seven-year old Angelina Jolie (Voight’s daughter), the future Mrs. Pitt only appears in one small scene near the end of the film.
Despite the hype, Jolie’s few lines fail to give audiences a glimpse into who she will grow up to be.
The film itself, new version or old, is not a film that will go down as a classic. Despite director Ashby’s track record (he also directed film classics Shampoo, Coming Home and Being There), things are off the mark here.
Voight is charming enough but the script doesn’t delve very deep into any of the characters so it’s difficult to care about what’s happening to them.
With some flat farcical scenes thrown in as Voight and Young running from goons in Vegas, the film never amounts to much at all and you’re always waiting for the film to get better but it never does.
Besides the featurette, which not so surprisingly does not bring up Jolie’s appearance in the film (probably because she and her father are famously estranged), the only other extra is the original theatrical trailer.
Neither is reason to purchases or even rent this sub-par film. Overall, Lookin’ To Get Out is one of those films from yesteryear that would have been better off left in obscurity.
