Mr. Brooks
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD
Review by Tony DeFrancisco
I’m going to tell you the god’s honest truth. Before I even saw Mr. Brooks, I liked it. No, not the idea of it, although it is a pretty good idea for a film that had me pondering why I never thought of it. But Dane Cook gets killed! You know, that just may have worked for a film like Good Luck Chuck, but when it happens in Mr. Brooks, I’m truly and deeply afraid (and surprised) to announce that his death is not what is cracked up to be.
I say that because Dane Cook actually is the best part of the movie.
Holy @#^% did I just say that? Can someone please check to see if there is no camera watching me as I typed that? What would happen if everyone at school found out about this? I’m a dead man…
Yes, Dane Cook is the best part of the movie. I still have the same exact hate that I used to have for him, because no one can change my mind off of Good Luck Chuck and Tourgasm, but how does this happen?! I think I shat myself just TYPING the words that Dane Cook is the best part of Mr. Brooks.
Mr. Earl Brooks (Kevin Costner) is THE man. Everyone knows everything about him, how good he is to the community, how good of a father he is, and how good he clips his toenails. But there is one thing that NOBODY knows about him – he’s a serial killer, controlled by his alter-ego Marshall (William Hurt). Nobody knows about it except Mr. Smith (Dane Cook), a man who has been spying on Brooks’ latest victims and even got pictures to prove that he killed them. But Mr. Smith has a proposition for Brooks. The next time Brooks goes out to kill someone, he has to take Smith along for the ride. Thinking that’s all fine and dandy, he accepts and they plan on killing someone.
But it’s not that easy. Detective Atwood (Demi Moore) specializes in hunting down serial killers, and she’s been assigned to a case called the Thumbprint Killer, in which she suspects Brooks is a prime suspect. And there are also clues to support this. The same school that his daughter went to before she dropped out due to a “pregnancy,” she killed a student. Atwood believes she inherited the killing from her father. And what Atwood doesn’t know is that Brooks’ and Smith’s next victim is her estranged husband.
How does this film work you may ask? Well, let’s start with the character of Mr. Brooks. Kevin Costner (an actor who I really hate but surprisingly like here) plays it smooth, calm, and slick throughout the entire film. He plays it as a professional and gives it his all, something that he doesn’t do nowadays and makes me mad. That is the thing about Costner. He can be great in one movie, and be terrible in the next. He’s as inconsistent as James Wan when he comes to acting.
And then there is Dane Cook, and yes, I said he was the best part of the film, but I never explained why. While I still hate Dane Cook’s living guts and I am still right there at his funeral once he dies to give the last “f**k you,” he did the impossible in this film in which he NEVER made me do…Dane Cook made me laugh. He made me laugh hard, and made me laugh long. It was like he was thrown in there just to be there, and his performance is so awkward and so out there that he reminds me of that one guy from The Mad. He sucks up to Costner’s role and is such a wannabe that once he is actually ready for this to happen, he is about to shit himself. Dane Cook steals the show here, and you know what that means. I will be expecting a lot of him in the next film he makes. And if he doesn’t deliver it…
But what doesn’t work? Demi Moore plays Pamela Landy (WHOOPS! Silly me, I mean Detective Atwood). It seems like she isn’t fit for a film like Mr. Brooks, and, well…I might as well be honest. She sucks at acting. Dane Cook and Kevin Costner drive the film when she’s not on screen, and when she is, the film comes to a screeching halt. Each time she is on the screen, she gives the viewer a bad case of syphilis. Moore doesn’t hold Mr. Brooks the way the character should hold it.
But Mr. Brooks IS NOT about a guy killing people. Truth is, he only kills two people on-screen until the big finale. Mr. Brooks is more of a study between Kevin Costner and his conscience played by William Hurt. Hurt is just there on the ride whenever Costner is at AA meetings (and no, he is not an alcoholic) and when he’s in the car getting ready to kill someone. Usually, Hurt’s role is to annoy Costner’s character, but it is doing the exact opposite. Hurt WANTS Costner to kill these guys. If Hurt wasn’t inside of Costner, then there wouldn’t be a killer inside him.
Mr. Brooks is a decent film, and it’s not one to take seriously. Everyone should see this just for Dane Cook’s performance. We won’t see a role like this from him any other time, so let’s enjoy it while we can.
Popularity: 9% [?]
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