MR. BROOKS / Bruce A. Evans (2007)

May 30th, 2007 by Scott Marks

Mr. Brooks (2007)

Directed by: Bruce A. Evans

Written by: Bruce A. Evans, Raynold Gideon

Cast: Kevin Costner, William Hurt, Demi Moore, Dane Cook, Danielle Panabaker

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Running Time: 120 min.

Genres: Drama, Serial Killer, Black Comedy

Rating:

The first five minutes slather on the irony. Earl Brooks (Kevin Costner), a respected businessman and generous philanthropist, graciously accepts Portland’s Man of the Year award. Nice guy Earl even stops in mid- speech to blow his adoring wife (Marg Helgenberger) a kiss.

Not a bad cover for an insatiable serial killer, so proficient at his work that he hasn’t left the police as much as one clue to his identity.

Earl’s inner backseat driver emerges on the car ride home. Marshall (William Hurt) plays a cheerleading Hyde to Mr. Brooks’ reluctant Dr. Jekyll. One look at Marshall’s demonic grin in the rearview assures us that Portland’s Thumbprint Killer will soon strike again.

Earl has been stalking a pair of dancers and he vows that their execution willbring down the curtain on his killing ways. Unfortunately, the normally meticulous Brooks fails to notice the lustful couples’ habit of keeping the curtains open.

This doesn’t stop a neighboring shutterbug (Dane Cook, known only as “Mr. Smith”) from bringing a stack of incriminating photos to Brooks’ office. Blackmail is his name, but money is not the game. The would-be assassin wants to accompany Brooks on his next rampage.

The concept of a reluctant serial killer forced to engage an eager apprentice borders on genius. The problem is, Mr. Brooks showcases one psychopath too many.

Earl’s teenage daughter Jane (Danielle Panabaker) drops out of college and returns home both pregnant and a prime suspect in a hatchet killing. The good Christian inside Brooks winces at the thought of his daughter getting an abortion. He’s not completely heartless. Dad will go to great lengths to ensure his little girl an airtight alibi the next time a campus homicide occurs, even if it means disguising as a drifter and doing the job himself.

Hints of incest add an extra layer of discomfort, but even that’s not enough. Jane’s final appearance is a genuine shocker that would have felt less gratuitous had the father/daughter relationship been more rigorously outlined.

As an alternative to insight, we get a dumb-dumb subplot involving Detective Tracy Atwood (Demi Moore), a cop hot on Brooks’ trail. Enter The Hangman, a recently escaped convict out to enact a brutal revenge on the cop that collared him. A boatload of coincidence will eventually bring together The Hangman and The Thumbprint Killer.

Veering further off topic, one of the subplots involves Detective Atwood’s greedy husband who’s anxious to end their marriage, get a chunk of her trust fund and shack up with his divorce attorney. (Atwood is the only cop in the free world whose assets amount to a little over $60 million.) Happenstance happens as the screenwriters clumsily unite Brooks with his tracker’s hubby.

Presenting Brooks’ inner conflict in the form of a character rather than through clumsy voice over narration works well. What makes Mr. Brooks click is the chemistry between Costner and Hurt, who can play sinister with the best of them. The film’s single most enduring moment arrives while the schizo duo, waiting for Mr. Smith to cross the street, share an evil cackle at the thought of their student getting hit by a car.

While it isn’t a patch on Henry: Portait of a Serial Killer, credit Mr. Brooks for providing more than just a standard Hollywood body count.