''The Lookalike'' is a 2014 American
Crime thriller
Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...
film directed by
Richard Gray and written by Michele Gray. The film stars
Justin Long
Justin Jacob Long (born June 2, 1978) is an American actor, comedian, director and screenwriter. Long is known for his film roles, notably appearing in '' Jeepers Creepers'' (2001), ''Dodgeball'' (2004), ''Accepted'' (2006), ''Idiocracy'' (20 ...
,
Jerry O'Connell
Jerry O'Connell (born February 17, 1974) is an American actor and television host. He is known for his roles as Quinn Mallory in the television series ''Sliders'', Andrew Clements in ''My Secret Identity'', Vern Tessio in the film '' Stand by M ...
,
Gillian Jacobs
Gillian MacLaren Jacobs (; born October 19, 1982) is an American actress and director. She is known for her roles as Britta Perry on the NBC sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015) and Mickey Dobbs on the Netflix romantic comedy series ''Love'' (2016 ...
,
Scottie Thompson
Susan Scott "Scottie" Thompson (born November 9, 1981) is an American film, television, and stage actress. She is best known as '' Jeanne Benoit'' in '' NCIS''.
Early life
Thompson grew up in Richmond, Virginia, where she attended Collegiate ...
,
John Corbett
John Joseph Corbett Jr. (born May 9, 1961) is an American actor and country music singer. On television, he is best known for his roles as Chris Stevens on ''Northern Exposure'' (1990–1995), Aidan Shaw on ''Sex and the City'' (2000–2003), ...
,
Gina Gershon
Gina L. Gershon (born June 10, 1962) is an American actress. She has had roles in the films ''Cocktail (1988 film), Cocktail'' (1988), ''Red Heat (1988 film), Red Heat'' (1988), ''Showgirls'' (1995), ''Bound (1996 film), Bound'' (1996), ''Face/ ...
,
Steven Bauer,
John Savage, and
Luis Guzmán
Luis Guzmán (born August 28, 1956) is a Puerto Rican actor. His career spans over 40 years and includes a number of films and television series. He has appeared in the Paul Thomas Anderson films ''Boogie Nights'' (1997), ''Magnolia'' (1999) an ...
. It was released in the United States on November 7, 2014, by
Well Go USA Entertainment
A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. T ...
.
Plot
Former basketball star Joe Mulligan, career-ends do to a knee injury, so sells drugs with his former coach Bobby Zan through his bar Bobby's. One fateful night, several events eventually lead him into a better life.
Drug lord William Spinks is strangely obsessed with Sadie Hill and uses family friends Bobby and Frank to get to her. Soon after Sadie talks to him via phone, as she's telling her friend Drew about being contracted to have sex with him, she bumps into Mila and damages her shoes. Sadie gives her Drew's shop card to replace them.
However, as Sadie's negotiating how much they will pay her to let her father's business partner screw her on camera, the chandelier above the table falls on her head. Her accidental death may jeopardize a major drug deal.
Meanwhile, Joe meets with Vincent to finish paying off his father's gambling debt. Aspiring actress Lacey Fitzgerald meets his brother Holt at Joe's. At the bar, Joe is talking about his dream cooking program. Mila meets someone there who brings her
nembutal as she refuses to do more
chemo. Joe meets her, finding out she both has a
prosthetic
In medicine, a prosthesis (plural: prostheses; from grc, πρόσθεσις, prósthesis, addition, application, attachment), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through trau ...
leg and is deaf.
Lacey and Holt chat, he is Joe's half-brother and is just visiting. Eventually they decide to hook up, she quietly excuses herself to remove the wire, as she was actually there to help the police nab Joe so she can avoid charges. Meanwhile, Joe and Mila also connect. The difference between the two pairs is, with the first they are mutually dishones to one other whereas Joe and Mila connect deeply.
Bobby and Frank formulate a shady plan to replace Sadie with a lookalike to fool Spinks. When Joe asks Bobby to help him finance his cooking show, they cut a deal that he help them find a girl. There will be 500,000 to split between Joe and the girl. As Holt desperately needs to pay Vincent 100,000 by Sunday, Joe offers him that amount to find Sadie's lookalike.
The Mulligan brothers are with their respective women, Mila who seems to be holding off euthanizing herself for Joe, Holt realizes Lacey could pass for Sadie. He presents her to Joe the next day, manipulating them both into being on board. Lacey sees it as an acting role, a way to get her career back on track.
Mila meets Drew about the shoes. Later, finding Sadie's photo in Joe's wallet, she returns to the shop and shows her. That night, Frank abducts Drew and tries to drown her, however she escapes. Drew calls Mila while she is confronting Joe, who tells her of his cooking show dream.
Joe asks Bobby about Sadie, Drew comes in demanding Bobby tell her where she is and Frank guns her down. Joe tells Holt the deal is off, as he fears her safety, but his desperate brother ignores his warnings. That evening, Mila chloroforms both Holt and Lacey to take her place.
When Lacey comes to, she warns Joe who races across town, trying to save Mila as he's correctly guessed she's taken Lacey's place. When he arrives, he learns it's basically a snuff film, so Joe hurries to the door, hoping to prevent it. On the video Spinks tells Al, Sadie's father and his former business partner, that his daughter Georgia killed herself. Her note explained Al raped her at 11 on vacation with his family in Versailles, which had caused her lifelong psychological damage. Spinks shoots Mila in the head before Joe bursts in. There is a struggle and Joe turns his gun on him.
Escaping with the money, Joe confronts Frank about Spink's arrangement. When he admits he knew 'Sadie' was meant to be snuffed out, Joe shoots him and takes the money case. Simultaneously, the cops close in on Bobby, who tries to destroy evidence of his coke operation and escape. Officer Garner, after warning him, takes him out.
One morning, Joe gets Mila's letter, explaining her terminal cancer diagnosis. She chose to sacrifice herself to help them. As Bobby is taken to the courthouse to be tried, Lacey meets with Garner to give her the other 10,000 as promised. The officer likewise does her a favor, pointing out that Holt is a cokehead. So, Lacey cuts him loose and takes her dream vacation alone.
Joe takes over the bar, renames it Mila's and gets his cooking show on the air.
Cast
*
Justin Long
Justin Jacob Long (born June 2, 1978) is an American actor, comedian, director and screenwriter. Long is known for his film roles, notably appearing in '' Jeepers Creepers'' (2001), ''Dodgeball'' (2004), ''Accepted'' (2006), ''Idiocracy'' (20 ...
as Holt Mulligan
*
John Corbett
John Joseph Corbett Jr. (born May 9, 1961) is an American actor and country music singer. On television, he is best known for his roles as Chris Stevens on ''Northern Exposure'' (1990–1995), Aidan Shaw on ''Sex and the City'' (2000–2003), ...
as Bobby Zan
*
Gillian Jacobs
Gillian MacLaren Jacobs (; born October 19, 1982) is an American actress and director. She is known for her roles as Britta Perry on the NBC sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015) and Mickey Dobbs on the Netflix romantic comedy series ''Love'' (2016 ...
as Lacey Fitzgerald / Sadie Hill
*
Jerry O'Connell
Jerry O'Connell (born February 17, 1974) is an American actor and television host. He is known for his roles as Quinn Mallory in the television series ''Sliders'', Andrew Clements in ''My Secret Identity'', Vern Tessio in the film '' Stand by M ...
as Joe Mulligan
*
Gina Gershon
Gina L. Gershon (born June 10, 1962) is an American actress. She has had roles in the films ''Cocktail (1988 film), Cocktail'' (1988), ''Red Heat (1988 film), Red Heat'' (1988), ''Showgirls'' (1995), ''Bound (1996 film), Bound'' (1996), ''Face/ ...
as Lee Garner
*
Scottie Thompson
Susan Scott "Scottie" Thompson (born November 9, 1981) is an American film, television, and stage actress. She is best known as '' Jeanne Benoit'' in '' NCIS''.
Early life
Thompson grew up in Richmond, Virginia, where she attended Collegiate ...
as Mila
*
Luis Guzmán
Luis Guzmán (born August 28, 1956) is a Puerto Rican actor. His career spans over 40 years and includes a number of films and television series. He has appeared in the Paul Thomas Anderson films ''Boogie Nights'' (1997), ''Magnolia'' (1999) an ...
as Vincent
*
Steven Bauer as Frank
*
John Savage as William Spinks
*
Felisha Terrell
Felisha Terrell (born March 16, 1979) is an American film and television actress.
Background
Terrell grew up in Chicago, Illinois. She was born to a European American mother and African American father. Terrell obtained her degree from the Univer ...
as Drew
*
Michael Yebba
Michael Yebba (born August 5, 1974) is an American actor, screenwriter and producer. Born in St. Johns, Michigan, he was raised in South Boston, MA, from the age of 6 months.
Later career
Yebba was a Boston, MA firefighter who was fired from th ...
as Detective Stein
*
Billy Slaughter
William H. Slaughter is an American film and television actor, best known for his roles in '' The Campaign'' and ''Focus''. In his free time he works with students that want to become actors and actresses at Launch Model And Talent in Metairie, ...
as bubbly birthday dude
Production
Australian film producer
Kaine Harling green-lighted the film into pre-production in early 2012.
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...
took place from December 3, 2012, to January 18, 2013, in
and
the Bahamas
The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...
. Filming was previously set to begin on November 26, 2012.
On February 8, 2013, Arclight Films acquired the international rights to ''The Lookalike''. On November 11, 2013, Well Go USA Entertainment acquired the North American rights to the film.
It was released theatrically and on
Digital HD
A digital copy is a commercially distributed computer file containing a media product such as a film or music album. The term contrasts this computer file with the physical copy (typically a DVD, Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, or Ultra HD Blu-ray disc) wit ...
in the United States on November 7, 2014.
References
External links
*
*
2010s comedy thriller films
2010s crime comedy films
2014 comedy films
2014 crime thriller films
2014 films
American comedy thriller films
American crime comedy films
American crime thriller films
American gangster films
Films about organized crime in the United States
Films about the illegal drug trade
Films directed by Richard Gray
Films shot in New Orleans
Films shot in the Bahamas
2010s English-language films
2010s American films
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