Lou is a 2022 American crime thriller film directed by Anna Foerster. The film stars Allison Janney, Jurnee Smollett, Logan Marshall-Green, Ridley Asha Bateman, and Matt Craven.
Lou was released on September 23, 2022, by Netflix. The film received mixed reviews from critics, who praised Janney's performance but criticized the writing.[1][2]
In 1986, on Orcas Island in Washington, Lou, a loner living with her dog Jax, goes to the village to buy some supplies. The sheriff talks to her about a copper bracelet that could help her arthritis, as it helped him. A mother, Hannah, plays hide-and-seek with her young daughter, Vee, outside their home. Lou, her landlord, stops by on her way back home to say the rent is due the next day.
Expecting a large storm, Chris, Hannah's male friend, offers to buy supplies. It starts raining on his way home. On his way he picks up a hitchhiker who kills him in his van. The hitchhiker cuts power to Hannah's home. While she is outside trying to restore power, he kidnaps Vee and flees with her on foot. Hannah runs to Lou's house, interrupting her suicide attempt, and tells her that Vee is missing. Before they are able to leave, Lou's truck blows up due to a bomb set by the hitchhiker. Eventually, Hannah and Lou set off tracking him and Vee into the night during the storm.
Hannah informs Lou that the hitchhiker is Vee's father, Philip, a former Green Beret and war criminal she thought was dead. Lou finds and kills Philip's friends on the way, clearly showing she is more than she appears to be. She explains to Hannah she is an ex-CIA field agent of 26 years. Lou and Hannah track Philip and Vee to the beach at Eagle Bay. Lou sends Hannah to radio for help, while she goes to confront Philip and rescue Vee. After a standoff, it is revealed Philip is actually Lou's son, who tracked them down after she turned him in and hid them for protection. It is also revealed that Lou abandoned him as a child to avoid blowing her undercover mission in Iran. Philip injures Lou and leaves with Vee, intending to kill all of them together.
Hannah contacts the sheriff, but a call from the United States Marshals Service forces him to stand down, as it is now a federal case. The sheriff goes to Eagle Bay nonetheless, where he finds Lou and gives her a copper bracelet. Meanwhile, Hannah arrives at the lighthouse and manages to get Vee away from Philip. After a scuffle, Hannah injures Philip and flees with Vee. Lou finds the lighthouse filled with explosives and sets them off from a distance, destroying it to signal an approaching CIA helicopter. Lou and Philip fight on the beach, until she gains the upper hand and hugs him. She apologizes as a CIA agent fires on them, and both Lou and Philip go under the water's surface.
Later, Hannah and Vee are shown in Lou's house, packed up and ready to leave. After a few questions from CIA agents and a goodbye from the sheriff, they are seen on board a ferry with Jax, who looks at someone on the upper deck, not fully in frame. The camera shifts to show a woman's arm with a similar scar that Lou had and a copper bracelet, as she watches her granddaughter and daughter-in-law through binoculars.
Production was set to begin from May to July 2020 in Vancouver, Canada when originally set up at Paramount Pictures, until Bad Robot decided to produce the film independently and land with Netflix. The film officially entered production in June 2021 and wrapped in August that same year.[3]
Allison Janney was cast in 2019.[3] On April 28, 2021, Jurnee Smollett signed on as one of the leading roles alongside Janney. They are both set to serve as executive producers.[4]
The film was released on Netflix on September 23, 2022.[5]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 67% of 52 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.1/10. The website's consensus reads: "From a storyline or set piece perspective, Lou doesn't add much to the action genre -- but it does serve as a generally entertaining reminder that Allison Janney is not to be trifled with."[1] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 51 out of 100 based on 12 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[2] Jeannette Catsoulis reviewed the film for The New York Times, saying, "Unfazed either by the working conditions or by Maggie Cohn and Jack Stanley's ridiculously over-the-top screenplay, [Janney] lends her grouchy character more than a ramrod spine and steely stare."[6] In another positive review for the Los Angeles Times, Noel Murray writes, "The mystery of who Lou is and why she takes an interest in Hannah isn't as surprising as the movie makes it out to be; but Janney is so commanding as an unlikely action hero that the picture still works."[7] John Anderson of The Wall Street Journal said, "Sometimes you just want a crazy action movie to kill an evening, and "Lou" fits that bill. Just don’t expect to be thinking about it tomorrow."[8] Lou was also praised by IGN's Tara Bennett who called it "a tight, gripping thriller that opens up a whole new genre for the ever-fabulous Allison Janney."[9]
In a negative review, Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com writes, "Allison Janney proves with Lou that she could carry an action movie. If only she got one worth carrying."[10] In another negative review, Benjamin Lee of The Guardian awarded the film with two stars out of five, criticizing the plot of Lou, calling it's twist as "dull [and] derailing that complicates and confuses, turning what could have been a tight little chase movie into something far baggier and far harder to get involved in."[11]
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