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Another week, another low-key Netflix release that has crawled up the streaming charts. This time, it's Lou, the Allison Janney-led thriller that has been likened to Liam Neeson's famous action flick Taken and Keanu Reeves' John Wick.
The comparisons began before Lou even reached Netflix, and for good reason: Janney plays a retired vigilante living who's thrown back into that lifestyle after her neighbor’s young daughter is kidnapped in the middle of a storm. The mother and Janney's Lou team up to kick ass and rescue the missing girl. With an exciting synopsis, it's no wonder the movie has topped the Netflix charts, taking over from the twisty Do Revenge.
"The movie more than measures up to those of Allison Janney's male counterparts in the 'serious actor starts kicking ass' subgenre," says the AV Club in a B review. The Wall Street Journal writes: "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."
"Lou is a tight, gripping thriller that opens up a whole new genre for the ever-fabulous Allison Janney," IGN notes, scoring the film eight out of 10. "Working off a smart script from Maggie Cohn and Jack Stanley, director Anna Foerster proves her skills as an action/thriller director."
However, not all reviews have been quite as positive. "Fun as it is to watch a stone-faced Janney grumble about how 'the world’s not a playground' and beat some bad guys to death with a coffee pot, Foerster’s movie is frustratingly light on both," claims IndieWire. The Guardian calls the movie's name "silly" and adds: "A film unworthy of both Janney’s talents and our attention."
Overall, Lou holds a 63 per cent rating on the aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, which is relatively decent for a Netflix movie – though not quite as solid as the recently released I Came By, which features on our list of the best Netflix thrillers.
