Mr. Brooks

FLICK Not being a Kevin Costner fan since way before he called Madonna’s Blond Ambition concert "neat" I wasn’t planning to see him star as Earl in Mr. Brooks, but I’m not disappointed that I did.
We get to see the duality of Earl Brooks up front at a banquet receiving a man of the year award and then going out for a night on the town as the elusive Thumbprint Killer. Costner gives a nuanced performance and has a way of making this unsettling serial killer so darn likeable that you hope he gets his wish to stop his renewed killing spree. He even goes to AA meetings for self-therapy thinking he’s on the path to quitting his addictive behavior. The most effective scenes show Earl having regular conversations with his conscience named Marshall, played with gusto by William Hurt. They make a great couple, like two-stepping partners dancing in rhythm and never tripping over each other.
The film begins promisingly but loses focus when it takes too many jarring turns away from exploring Brooks and his alter ego. Dane Cook gives a one-dimensional performance as Mr. Smith, a photographer who has witnessed one of the murders and blackmails his way into becoming Earl’s apprentice. Tracey Atwood (Demi Moore) is the detective hot on their trail. The script should have concentrated more on her hunt instead of investing time with distractions like her ongoing nasty divorce case, and that she is the target of an escaped convict’s revenge. There is also a dash of the film The Bad Seed in a subplot concerning Earl’s daughter (Danielle Panabaker). Though there is only one Rhoda Penmark, I never quite bought the central hereditary theory of that film either.
This visually stylish suspense-thriller succeeds as a Jekyll and Hyde tale but gets a little schizophrenic and distracted when adding others to the mix. My Score: 7 out of 10.