Lou review: Low bar action thriller

Lou is an action thriller starring Allison Janney as Lou Adell, and is the main reason I watched the movie. She’s great in The West Wing so I wanted to see what she is like in a Taken-type of movie. And she’s actually damn good. It’s just a pity the story is so convoluted and dumb that even Janney’s stony-faced kick ass couldn’t save it.

So, what’s the movie about?

Lou (Janney) is a recluse who is about to kill herself. That’s how this movie starts. Only she’s interrupted when her tenant Hannah (Jurnee Smollett) bursts in asking for help. You see, her husband, who she thought was dead, has kidnapped her son. We then follow the two as they track down and get him back.

Much like Liam Neeson’s action thriller Taken, we have an actor who we are used to seeing in more mundane movies kicking arse. And Janney does a great job at this. It’s just a pity that it doesn’t happen more often. She gets to flex her muscles, killing a few henchmen using a coffee cup and various other household goods, but these scenes are few and far between. Instead, we had a movie that feels overly long and a bit bonkers to be honest.

Lou spoilers ahead

We find out that the father Phillip (Logan Marshall-Green), is none other than the son of Lou… He happens to be ex-special forces, while Lou is ex-CIA. What a pair… Anyway, Phillip was adopted by Lou when his criminal parents are killed. She raises him, but he turns out to be a bit of a knob and she turns him in. So this is all a vendetta. Only it’s so dumb.

I was hopeful for the first half of the movie. it looked like it was going to be an interesting retribution for Lou’s character. You know, make up for all the crap she did in her past. But it ended up turning into such a silly movie that both my girlfriend and I agreed it ended up jumping the shark. Other than some solid acting from all involved, desperately trying to save this shitshow of a script, the film trips over its own ambitions to be bigger than it is.

I give Lou a…

6/10