10 June 2007
Mr. Brooks…a film so bad I can’t come up with a pun on the title.
So last Tuesday I ventured out to the local (if you live in Niagara Falls…which I don’t…but anyway…) cineplex to see the new raucous comedy “Knocked Up.” However, when we got there “Knocked Up,” was “Sold Out.”
After next-to-no deliberation, we decided that if we can’t see something funny that is supposed to be funny, we might as well see something funny that ISN’T supposed to be funny. That’s how “Mr. Brooks,” came into play.
“Mr. Brooks,” stars Kevin Costner, as crazy bastard who’s a well-respected business man by day (he owns a box factory…), and a murderous scamp by night. His less-congenial side is personified in the manifestation of good ol’ William Hurt who is usually very good, and not in bad movies, and yet, here we are. The film is written and directed by Bruce Evans who also brought us…”Kuffs.” Ouch.
Anywho, the basic gist of the movie is that the Costner/Hurt (Costnurt?) entity is seen killing someone by Dane Cook, who then blackmails Costnurt into taking him along on a murder. That’s the main plot anyway. The other two plots centered around Demi Moore’s police detective character, and are pretty much superfluous. Seriously. There’s a ton of wasted time in this movie. Tangents that overlap for no other reason than for an attempt at suspense, none of which really pay off. Fortunately they do kinda tie things up at the end, but not enough to let you think they won’t try a sequel.
Really, this movie is only worth seeing for one reason: the horrible wig and moustache combo donned by Costner while he’s “undercover.” It’s a truly glorious thing and is one of the funnier things I have ever seen on screen. Other than that, the script is horrible, the acting is unspectacular, and the plot wanders more than an acid-head at a Phish concert. Fortunately it does have a few laughs, even if they are unintended. Unfortunately the theatre was pretty full, so I wasn’t able to have as much fun yelling at this as I wanted.
I give this one bullet in the head out of five.
Bad news:
“According to interviews with Kevin Costner, this is supposedly the first movie in a trilogy.”
from Imdb Mr Brooks Trivia