An odd mix of psychological thriller and camp satire, Bruce A. Evans´ Mr. Brooks wanders all over the map but succeeds greatly whenever Kevin Costner and William Hurt – playing separate personalities of the titular character – are sharing the screen.
Earl Brooks (Costner) has just been named Man of the Year by the Portland Chamber of Commerce; somehow this resurrects a long-dormant split-personality (personified by William Hurt), who urges Brooks to commit random murders.
You see, Brooks is a serial killer known as the “Fingerprint Killer”, and he´s about to return. The film could have stopped there with plot and I would have been satisfied, but no, we have over-writing at its worst here, and it´s on prominent display.
Thrown into the mix: a photographer (Dane Cook) who witnesses Brooks commit a murder and decides he, too, wants to be a killer; Brooks´ daughter Jane, who may have the serial killer gene, and Earl´s attempts to cover up her tracks; and three (!) separate storylines involving a cop (Demi Moore), who is chasing Brooks, being chased by another recently-escaped serial killer, and going through a messy divorce.
This could have been material for a campy Serial Mom-esque comedy but not really the dark psychological thriller Evans seems to want it be; the story threads are too out there, there are too many of them, and none of them are handled with enough care.
Yet, when the film works, it works: the banter between Costner and Hurt is often beautiful. But almost every scene with Moore´s underwritten character – whether she´s flying through the air or spraying baddies with bullets – causes a jarring tonal shift that´s difficult to recover from.
I´m on the fence here; I recognize this is a bad film, yet I enjoyed watching it (even when it doesn´t work, it provides unintentional comedy), and it represents welcome counter-programming to the typical Hollywood fare.
Ultimately, the direction simply is not up to task; while always watchable, the film is never as compelling as it should be, it lacks a consistent visual style, and (as other reviewers have noted) the tone is all over the place. In the hands of a more talented director, Mr. Brooks could have been a blast.