Reviews and More

We’re currently making plans for turning our living room into more of a “media room” where we can enjoy video games, movies, sports, and television shows on our big-screen television. We’re looking into buying a nice speaker system, some comfortable chairs, and a few other accessories. In addition, I read an article about home lighting tips and techniques the other week that explained how to light a room like a movie theater. That article (which of course I forgot to bookmark) had some great lighting ideas that I want to follow up on. Hopefully I can find that article again before we go shopping!

Most movies about serial killers present the story from the point of view of the detective or FBI agent working the case. After all, the audience wants to sympathize with and root for the main character — and that’s hard to do if the lead is wiping out innocent victims left and right. So we end up cheering for the man or woman who’s out for justice.

Nevertheless, there are a few tried-and-true ways to get the audience to sympathize with the killer, and Mr. Brooks, the latest Bruce A. Evans film, employs all of them: make the killer a handsome movie star generally known for playing nice guys; make the killer repeatedly claim to want to stop; and introduce far less likable characters that serve to make the killer all the more appealing. Does this approach work? I guess that depends on who you ask!

Plot summary (with possible spoilers): Kevin Costner stars as Mr. Brooks, who, as the film opens, is receiving a Man of the Year award from the Portland Chamber of Commerce for his contributions to the community. Little does anyone know that Mr. Brooks will later choose to celebrate this achievement by methodically killing a young couple while they’re in the middle of having sex. We learn from Marshall (played by William Hurt), Mr. Brooks’ alter ego that only he can see and hear), that Mr. Brooks has killed before (many, many times, in fact), but that he managed to control his urges for two years.

The layoff must have made Mr. Brooks a bit rusty because he commits a major blunder during his latest killing: he left the curtains open while he pulled the trigger. This proves to be a costly error, as Mr. Brooks is soon approached by a young man calling himself Mr. Smith (Dane Cook). Mr. Smith has photos of Mr. Brooks in the apartment with the dead bodies, but Mr. Smith isn’t going to go to the police with this evidence, nor is he going to extort millions of dollars from the wealthy Mr. Brooks. Instead, he demands that Mr. Brooks take him along to help execute the next victims. Mr. Brooks agrees.

The rest of the film then deals with Mr. Brooks’ strange arrangement with Mr. Smith, as well as a number of subplots that include a police investigation by Det. Tracy Atwood (Demi Moore), a messy divorce between Tracy and her soon-to-be ex, another escaped serial killer, and even the possibility that killing is a “sickness” that can be passed on from parent to offspring. (I kid you not.)

My Reaction: I’ve taken some time to really consider this film and read other reactions before making a final judgment of my own. I’ve read arguments both for and against this film (I mean just in terms of whether it’s a good movie or not), and found worthy arguments on both sides of the equation. But ultimately, I think Mr. Brooks fails because its intentions are ambiguous. Were we supposed to like Mr. Brooks? Were we supposed to condone what he did? Were we supposed to change our minds about serial killers and treat them as suffering from a disease like other addicts? I don’t know.

There were numerous plot points that stretched the limit of credulity. I think I could have accepted one or two of them in this movie, but when they just kept piling on, I had to draw the line somewhere. First, we have this Dane Cook character who witnesses a murder and wants to join in on the next one instead of reporting it? Uh huh. Then we have a cop with a net worth of $63 million who is just on the force because of daddy issues? And we have the daughter of a serial killer who might turn out to be a serial killer herself? I could go on, but I’ll spare you the rest.

In looking back on the film, it seemed that for every point in its favor, I ran into something that detracted from the overall experience. I was interested in the main plot (the Kevin Costner/Dane Cook interaction) and found that resolution to be satisfying. But then the ending to the movie as a whole felt completely hollow and abrupt. I liked how the filmmakers built up tension for some of those final scenes, but then got utterly distracted by the soundtrack music they chose to use. And on and on.

Overall, I decided to give Mr. Brooks 6.5 stars out of 10. I guess the biggest factor in computing this rating was that I didn’t feel as though the filmmakers had wasted my time. I didn’t necessarily like or agree with everything I saw, but at least there were some real ideas in there.