Movie Review: 'Mr Brooks'

As successful businessman, loving father and local Man of the Year, Mr Brooks (Kevin Costner – the underrated Open Range ) is the man who has everything... to hide. Because behind this façade is the calculating mind of a serial killer.

It's a simple but intriguing plot that writer/director Bruce A. Evans ( Kuffs ) executes with compelling precision. "Dry" for close to two years thanks to his regular attendance at AA meetings, Mr Earl Brooks is starting to feel that itch to kill. Again. Driven by a demanding and controlling alter-id (wonderfully brought to life by William Hurt— A History of Violence ) who only he can see and hear, Earl finally snaps and, late one night, executes a young couple. But for the first time in his long career of slayings Brooks slips up. Caught on camera by voyeur "Mr Smith" (Dane Cook— Employee of the Month ), he finds himself blackmailed into tutoring the amateur photographer in how to get away with the perfect murder.

Surrounding this superbly executed central premise is a rich tapestry of interesting sub-plots. For starters there's the cop (a somewhat stiff Demi Moore— Bobby ) who would most likely catch our anti-hero if she wasn't so distracted by not only her messy divorce but the escaped eradicator Thornton Meeks (bad guy for hire Matt Schulze— Torque ) whom she originally put behind bars. Then there's Earl's returning college drop-out daughter, Jane (Danielle Panabaker— Sky High ), who may have more in common with her old man than he would wish.

It all adds up to making Mr Brooks a serial killer movie with a difference; it is actually more of an interesting character study. There is ample time dedicated to creating fully formed and believable people rather than to a glorification of violence or to the hero worship of a murderer. That said, don't be surprised if, come the movie's denouement and despite your best intentions, you find yourself rooting for Mr Brooks. This is thanks mainly to the nuanced and subtly underplayed performance from the much maligned Costner.

Easily the best he's been in years, Costner is entirely plausible in the role, utilising his established everyman persona to convince as both overtly charming and covertly psychotic in equal measure. His interaction with Hurt sees them sharing all the movie's high points as they joke and jape their way through one situation to the next. It's a dark and twisted chemistry but appealing and involving all the same. Which, coincidentally, is fit summary for the whole movie.

Four stars out of five