Click Here For Our Interview with Kevin Costner
Click Here For Our Interview with Dane Cook

Mr. Brooks

Review By: Rick Mele
RickMele@TheCinemaSource.com

It’s inevitable that we go into movies having certain expectations beforehand; I confront this all the time. Sometimes my inflated expectations can ruin a movie for me, other times they’re so low to begin with, I find myself loving an otherwise mediocre film. But Mr. Brooks, the latest thriller from writer/director Bruce A. Evans and Kevin Costner, is part of a strange phenomenon for me. Sometimes when I’m watching a trailer for a movie, or checking out the latest news on a particular film, I’m struck by two conflicting expectations; that the movie could be either predictably bad, or surprisingly good. And these are the worst sort of expectations to have. If the movie turns out to be surprisingly good, then you’re ecstatic, your instincts picked a winner, and if it’s the former, you can revel in its hokey ridiculousness without disappointment. But if it’s merely mediocre, downright unspectacular, you end up feeling cheated. Much like the frustrating Jim Carrey vehicle The Number 23, Mr. Brooks falls prey to this same trap, largely stumbling through what is an otherwise intriguing, albeit dark, premise.

Kevin Costner stars as the eponymous Mr. Brooks, a dedicated family man and decorated entrepreneur, with one of the worst imaginary friends ever. All Mr. Earl Brooks wants is to enjoy his gorgeous house, loving wife (CSI’s Marg Helgenberger), and cherished daughter (Danielle Panabaker, Sky High, HBO’s Empire Falls), but Marshall, played by William Hurt (A History of Violence, Children of a Lesser God), just won’t leave him alone; Marshall would like Mr. Brooks to kill again. And Earl just isn’t the type to disappoint. But when his “last time” attracts the attention of a blackmailing slasher fanboy in Dane Cook (Employee of the Month, Waiting), and hardened supercop Detective Atwood (Demi Moore, GI Jane, Striptease), Mr. Brooks finds his life spiraling out of control, and the secret of his “addiction” perilously close to coming out.

The latest in a long list of Jekyll-and-Hyde movies, Mr. Brooks retreads some familiar territory. A noted family man isn’t all he seems? How shocking. Yet it uses the general premise that serial killing is an addiction along the lines of alcoholism or drug use to paint an interesting (if not entirely plausible) character study of a clearly deeply disturbed, yet outwardly normal, citizen. But it’s not before long that the Mr. Hyde in Mr. Brooks rears its ugly head, and the film veers into completely incongruous action/thriller territory.

The main plot of Mr. Brooks is unapologetically dark at times, and Hurt, Costner, and Cook light up the screen with moments that are at the same time hideously disturbing yet unquestionably empathetic. Hurt and Costner have exactly the sort of eerie chemistry and effortless rapport needed to prevent the split-personality plot device from coming across as gimmicky, and their gleeful back-and-forth provides some surprising comic moments. Cook, meanwhile, is probably ...