Mr. Brooks

Reviewed by Alicia Glass
July 27, 2007

Director: Bruce A. Evans Studio: MGM Studios MPAA: R Website: Click Here

Earl Brooks is a fine upstanding member of the community, with a lovely wife and daughter, and a business that brings in quite a lot of money. Marshall, Mr. Brooks’ murderous alter ego, has other plans entirely.

This is a good comeback movie for Costner, after attempting to do soft comedic roles and bombing movies in large anti-hero end-of-the-world scenarios. He does a fair job at the role of the tormented Mr. Brooks, trying desperately to satisfy Marshall’s and his own lust for killing, while not getting caught, dealing with real life, plus his daughters idiocies, the cops hot on his trail, and the photographer wanna-be killer who’s blackmailing him.

William Hurt doesn’t often play a bad guy, but when he does, it is quite fearsome. That maniacal laugh in the back of the car, where only Mr. Brooks can see Marshall, is not something to miss.

Demi Moore gets the role of the dubious cop Detective Tracy Atwood who’s chasing Mr. Brooks. It’s always great to see her running around with that long hair flying, but come on. Running full tilt in heels in a gunfight? I doubt it.

And then there’s Dane Cook, who plays Smith (a misnomer), a photographer who manages to catch pictures of the Thumbprint Killer to blackmail Mr. Brooks with. What does he want—money, fame, favors? Oh no, Smith’s more ambitious than that. He wants to go with Mr. Brooks on his next kill, which will be, Smith insists, very soon.

Mr. Brooks is already set up at the beginning of the movie as a killer who’s been at this for some time. So trying to force his way into being Brooks’ protégé, Smith sealed his own fate.

It’s a good movie, it just wasn’t advertised enough, or was squashed between much larger movies. Mr. Brooks is worth a look or two, just to see a lot of these big name actors playing bad guys.