Mr. Brooks

Mr. Brooks (2007)

Director: Bruce A. Evans
Writer: Bruce A. Evans and Raynold Gideon
Genre: Crime/Drama/Mystery/Thriller


What's It About

Mr. Brooks is about a man, a man named Mr. Brooks...Ok, lets not give it all away. It's about a man with two personalities. The first personality is a successful business man who doesn't talk a lot. The other personality is a serial killer. The movie toys with the idea of people living two separate lives. Kevin Costner is Mr. Earl Brooks? Dane Cook is in the movie? Yes, and yes. Weird, but it works great. Dane Cook's character Mr. Smith, a photographer that happens to catch Mr. Brooks in the act, wants to be like Mr. Brooks and kill people for fun. Mr. Brooks can't reveal his secret to anyone, but Mr. Smith has pictures of Mr. Brooks's murders. How will Mr. Brooks get out of this situation?

How'd They Act

How was the acting you ask? I have not seen Kevin Costner do well in quite a while, but this was one of his best performances. He played the part of Mr. Brooks quite well and his performance was matched well with the actors around him. When I saw that Dane Cook was in it I had a brief pause in thought. What, is this a comedy? No, well yes and no. His character is played very well, but it is rather quirky at the same time. He is funny, but not all of the time. The character has a little more depth than say Employee of the Month. He won't win an Oscar for it though; then again what does Oscar really know. Mr. Smith adds some flavor to an otherwise dark film. William Hurt plays Marshall, the imaginary friend of Mr. Brooks. This may seem a little odd and it is, but he has a good character here. Demi Moore plays a fairly good detective, though I was not overly impressed. Emma Brooks played by Marg Helgenberger was a behind the scenes kind of character. Jane Brooks was the key daughter role played by Danielle Panabaker. She does a good job in this movie, sort of a mysterious character. I see a little bit of Juliette Lewis in Natural Born Killers in Danielle's character. She seems sort of innocent at times, but then maybe she is a crazy killer. Who knows? All in all some great performances.

Delivery

This is the section where I talk about the directing and cinematography. This was some beautiful directing. I loved the way that Mr. Brooks and Marshall have conversations, but they are really just in Mr. Brooks's head. That was a nice touch. Also, the flow of the movie was quite good. Things happened that were somewhat unpredictable and at the same time you kind of saw it coming. There were a few surprises that were worth the watch for sure. The different story lines were meshed together well. Great use of lighting and music throughout the movie. Sometimes the viewer is almost pushed away from what is going on by the music and sometimes the music draws you in. This is very important to a great film. You need to have music that fits the movie and sets the mood and that is certainly what happened here. Great directing, but not the best I've seen.

The Real Deal

You should go see this movie if you want something offbeat and refreshing. There are thrills, laughs, gore, and some drama even. An interesting mix of emotions and moods. $19 for two tickets on opening night, and it was worth it.

The Skinny Version

Raw Score: 802,341
Sharon Movie? No